What do families on the road do for jobs?
Not everyone has won the lottery (congratulations if you did!) or is able to retire early. So how do you make ends meet when you are raising a family and traveling fulltime? What kinds of jobs can you take with you?
Jobs that Travel
Labor, Construction, Mechanical Industries
- Heavy Equipment Operator
- Mechanic
- Carpenter
- Catastrophic Insurance Adjuster
- Welders
- Mobile RV Repair Service - follow rallies and RV events
- Commercial Driver
- Railroad
- Project Manager
- Military Contractor
Check RoadTechs for current Job Listings
"My husband is a Heavy Equipment Operator, and really, in that line of work, and mechanics I would imagine, you can go wherever you want to work. He was with a company that traveled throughout the midwest, then they sent him to CA this winter. Once in CA, he decided he wanted more $, so jumped online and found some options (he's in the Operators Union). He had a job offer the same day. He's now working for a company in Sacramento, which he's really enjoying."
~Karen "Wildtribe" (FOTR since 2006)
"My husband is a catastrophic insurance adjuster. We go in after a disaster is declared from a storm or earthquake and he does adjusts claims for his company on behalf of a few different insurance companies. He belongs to a couple of different companies that could send him out as well as the national flood adjusters registry. When the country has a bad weather year, like when Katrina hit, we make extraordinary money. When it is a slow year, like this past one, then times are lean and he must pick up jobs in between the smaller storms that are constantly hitting around the country as they just don't pay as much to keep up with our bills. We don't hope for a bad hurricane, but when a big one hits it supplies us with well over a year's worth of living expenses (not counting savings and spending money)."
~Mandi Sanders
David is a pipeline welder. He travels all over the US and Canada. He does contract or company work for varying people and/or companies. Usually taking a job depends on the pay and/or the location of prospective pipeline. He has also welded for refineries, energy plants, ethanol plants and refridgeration plants to just name a few!
Katherine writes resumes for the pipeline welders and/or related workers as we travel. Have also down resumes for any and all people that request.
"My husband has a great job supervising a team of aircraft mechanics who travel from base to base preparing/repairing BlackHawk and Apache helicopters. As his travel increased, Dad/hubby time decreased ... something HAD to change for the sake of our family. We decided to join him on the road a little over a year ago and have never looked back.
Although we don't have control of where we travel, at least we're all together on the same adventure."
~ Annette Dyer
Arts and Entertainment
Performing
Take the show on the road! Book your own shows or hire an agency (just be wary of agents that take most of the profits and overbook you).
- Stand-up Comedy
- Musicians
- Storytellers
- Theatre
Crafts
- Crafts - set up a booth at fairs and festivals, sell crafts at flea markets, craft shows at the malls
- Make bird houses and bird feeders
- Jewelry
- Sign Maker with a sign making kit, router kit, drill and palm sander
- crochet custom made throws and afghans
Desk / Mobile Office
- teach online classes
- database work
- accounting
- web work
- freelance Grant Writing for non-profit corporations
- writers
- headhunter
"We are computer consultants specializing in college financial aid integration with the rest of the college, and state, national, and loan programs."
~ Sarah Johnson
Other
- Traveling Nurse - RN.com and Intelistaf for job listings and placement
- Campground Host - Recreation Resource Management has some job listings
- Camping World has a mobile worker program
- Sell fireworks, Christmas trees and pumpkins
- Architect
- Secret Shopper - You won't make much money but you do get free lunches and oil changes and stuff like that. www.volition.com
- Temp Jobs
- Travel and work in spurts at places like Starbucks, Lowes or Home Depot
- Move to one of the Disney Parks and work there - 8 week minimum commitment
- Check Caretaker.org for listings
- Casino Dealer at private parties extra help is especially need during May for graduation parties and during the holidays.
- Taking Inventory
"Just a few thoughts on why my husband is in the process of contracting with a traveling nurse agency. The benefits are fantastic, we get paid to travel from job to job, and if we live in our rig, rather than take the free apartment, we get a tax-free housing stipend anyway! Plus, he hopes to do three 12's, so we can have more time to explore. 13-week assignments will give us a chance to explore the areas we want, and we hope to time completion of assignments seasonally so we can see a lot of the country without having to worry about snow. There are also often nice completion bonuses for nurses who finish assignments. We plan to buy an older, used rig and hope to upgrade as my husband completes assignments. You know, my husband's nursing license has been a real blessing for our family. He's an LPN, not even an RN, and the opportunities are simply fantastic. We're encouraging our son to think about a career in a medical field!"
~Leigh Calfee
Odd Jobs
- Knife sharpening
- windshield repair
- TV repair
- clothing alterations
- selling on eBay
- RV mobile repair
- black/gray tank cleaner
Tips for Being an Entrepreneur on the Go
In today's world of modern technology it is possible to take your work with you. You can keep in touch with clients while you enjoy the view at Niagara Falls.
- Get a web site just for the business. List contact info in prominent locations. And be sure to get your web site listed on relevant sites
- Have another source of income the first couple of years. It takes time to build up your client base.
- Get Toll Free Number - Rates start at about $5 per month at www.Kall8.com Voice mails are delivered messages to your email. You can even set if up to receive faxes that are delivered to your email account. Your clients won't have to worry about calling long distance when you have a toll free.
- A web enabled cell phone will help you keep up on your email from wherever you are.
- Set up alerts to page your cell phone when important email comes in.
- Impress your clients with immediate service. Make a habit of returning phone calls with in 5 minutes, emails within an hour or at least on the same day. Doing so helps ali eve fears that they may have about you not being reliable because you travel.
- Train your email to send out a automated response to new clients. Then follow up with email from a real person as soon as possible.
- Send flyers. Mail is not dead. Target the area you want to be in 6 months. If you can, hire someone with a permanent address to do bulk mail for you.
- Know your market. Know what the going rates are and don't undersell yourself.
- Promote. Promote. Promote. Turn your bus/RV into a billboard. Pass out postcards or business cards. Put your web link in your signature line on your email.
- Expect to work 10 hours a day.
- Read Guerilla Marketing in 30 Days
More tips about staying in touch on the Communication page.
About Travel Nurse
~Kathy "scarlet quilts"
The assignments are for 13 weeks although you can often get a larger bonus for signing for 26 weeks depending on the area you go to. Most hospitals are looking for travelers to work the night shift 7pm-7:30 am. However, many will go for the opposite shift too, depending on the care area. The wages vary depending on the specialty with critical care and emergency dept. and sometimes telemetry (cardiac) being higher. That can also vary depending on need such as pediatric transplant floors or NICU-- like I said it depends on the area of the country and their particular needs. Some areas have very little in the way of GYN and others have big medical centers that need specialty trained people. It is wise to decide what you would like to work in so when you are putting your year in of experience you are getting the training that will pay off for you.
When I worked as a traveler which was about 7 years ago (2000) I pulled $35/hour and that was with my housing allowance worked into the hourly wage. My housing was $1, 000/month. This came in a separate check/direct deposit but I ended up wrapping into my paycheck because it was taxed less as wages than as bonus. Also, your state obviously won't tax you income tax if you are working 50 miles away from your residence. That won't mean anything to those who live in Texas or Tennessee but it means a bunch to those in NY or Mass. You do have to pay state tax in the states you work in though if they have one.
Health Benefits: they are offered and cost some money, they usually are not as good as the hospital employees have but better than nothing. There usually is a 401K, but disability might have to be purchased separately. Life ins. policy -- a basic accidental one that most employers offer if I remember correctly. Sometimes they will reimburse you for continuing education that make you more valuable like for certification in a specialty. South Dakota requires a bachelor's in nursing for RN's but most others an AAS is fine. You should have easy access to a fax machine. And ALWAYS keep a copy of your signed hours (time sheet).
Remember if you sign up with these companies you are basically negotiating a contract. You can build your time off into your contract. If your recruiter isn't willing to do this, find a different one. The agencies give you a pile of paperwork that has to be completed to sign up and that is their way of discouraging you from going to a different one.
About going to a floor: Show up on time. Understand you are there to supplement the staff who have been working short for a very long time. You are likely to get the problem patients and the bulk of admissions. It won't necessarily be fair. Understand you are there for 13 weeks, they are there most likely for their working life if the hospital is one with defined benefit retirement. They have been working short by the hospital, deferring their time off, pulling mandatory overtime etc. They won't be sympathetic to you in general because they know you are getting paid a lot more than them. If OT is something they want, they will always get it before you because they are cheaper. They take offense if you opine about the backwards way things are done, teach when they get to know you. If it is really unsafe there, call your recruiter and dump your contract. Nothing is worth losing your license over. It might cost you but so what? You don't have to be abused or put in ethically questionable positions either.
The nice thing about traveling is not being part of the floor and hospital politics and gossip. You come in, do your job and go home. Your expenses may include paying for your own CPR, PPD/Physical, State registration fees. I have licenses in NY and TN and could probably easily get any other state but it takes some time for them to process. Think about where you want to go next about 5 weeks into your current contract. Also while the agency might pay for your initial license fee, you may be responsible for the renewal fees.
Most travel nurse companies also have a physical therapy/occupation therapy and respiratory as well as diagnostic tech divisions as well. Medical Centers, Hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities and mental health facilities are places you might find work.
