GREAT THREAD !
This is why I encourage younger to middle aged people to get a serviceable first Van and begin to take some week end camping trips or go sight seeing in their Van. It's why I put together the website in my signature line to show how to do it. I saw it as a first step into this life. Although I haven't lived full time out of my Van for a number of years, I've seen and learned first hand a lot of what has been said above.
To just buy a dirt cheap clunker and hit the road in it to live there may be a set up for disaster. LUCK would be a key factor in that strategy and most of that would be consumed in avoiding suspicious LEO's (who may see an opportunity to blame every petty theft in town for the last few months on some kid passing through in some rolling junk pile of a Van He may even want to impound and dismantle the Van asserting his hunch that it's been used for drug trafficking). On my TV Local News reports these days it is amazing to me the number of older bearded Men and everyday "Gram maw" looking Women that are shown busted for transporting drugs such as Oxycodone and Heroine. I guess so many LEO's with their clean shaven heads and militant attitudes are profiling the "Duck Dynasty Look" nowdays that grooming to look clean and appear decently dressed may be one of your best traveling asset.
As for the "skill of finding work" (rarely taught in College, Universities, and most other institutes of higher learning, to wit today's student loan diabolical") having some real world trade skill with certification that is constantly in demand would provide a trades journeyman living for a trades journeyman who lives full time in a Van or RV. (being in the "Art's" doesn't provide a "certification" as such, and unfortunately anyone can call themselves an "Arty person" of some kind. A LEO may demand some evidence of your skills and will likely be as unqualified to fairly appraise them) I once met a Guy who racked pool in a pool hall who had traveled back and forth seeing the USA working out of a small tool box with some paints and brushes. He worked as a sign painter. He used to speak of taking the bicycle off the back of his Van and using an old metal lunch box with a few containers of paint and a couple of brushes he would take as he rode down country lanes offering to letter people's names on their mail boxes for $5 bucks a pop. He painted the name in fancy script and the numbers in a block type face. Each box took him about 15 minutes as he would draw it out for the customer in his spiral ring pocket tablet so they would know what it would look like before he started. Said he made them pay up front. Said he used the old thermos bottle in the lunch box for his paint thinner. He was a character and told me that when he got in a subdivision the Women would call each other
and before long they would all want his work. That's about the simplest trade and marketing skills combination I've ever seen employed. Said he could make $60 bucks a day real easy back then.
He would find sign shops to work in as a "temp"/"tramp" during the bad weather months back then.
During the holiday season he would drive around the town finding Gas Stations that wanted Holiday Greetings
and pictorials painted on their windows and he would do that in the evenings when he was off work. Said he could make $2000 during November and December with just that market. He got his picture ideas from
simple greetings cards he would show the station owner. Again these guys would call their affiliates and send him around their way.
A person can create a 8 1/2 x 11 typing paper advertisement for their skill and go around putting these
on the bulletin boards in the air locks of grocery stores using you cell number as contact info. If you have a
computer and work on line there are sites like Guru com and others like it. If you use PayPal or other
money transfer clients you can do any number of things with the computer or produce hand crafted products and send them through the mail to your buyers. One person I know of does "Italic hand writing"
and addresses cards for a Dentist (she met on Guru) to remind his clients they have an appointment within 2 or 3 days. The arrangement was made at Guru and she purchases the stationary, stamps, and is emailed the files by the Dentist secretary. She scans the cards she buys (in boxes) and sends a copy of each card for the Dentist approval. Says he's only turned one of them down so she exchanged it the next shopping visit. He PayPal's her the money for her expenses (she mails him the receipts) and she charges $35 an hour. Letters received in the mail make an impression and often wind stuck to the refrigerator door with a magnet.
(people who do this are referred to as "VA's" or "Virtual Assistants" or sometimes "online assistants")
If you have a certification course in MS Office" or other program skills, I would advise to put it in a frame to
hang in your Van or RV. Remember...........there are still a lot of people out there who can't bring themselves to believe ANYONE could possibly make a living with a computer while sitting in a Van. I live where there are plenty of them.
It's all about creativity and thinking. "Think Sell" should be your credo. Even your Van should be kept clean and sell-able should you find a deal on a better one with lower mileage and in better shape. You never know
what can happen out on the road so being prepared to deal with it will be paramount.
