Traveling concession workers?

[David]

I was curious if anyone could give me a little incite on working as a traveling concession worker. I'm seeing a lot of ads wanting people to do various concession style work for events.

Some pay salary and you travel around to various festivals and so forth. Anyone know what kinda money they usually pay and what is the down time like? Can you get away to see stuff in between events or do they stay pretty busy?

 

[Lucky mike]

if your working as an employee on a circuit you will be busy.....you want to know what their schedule is.

if your talking about bringing your own concession its a whole nother game....health inspections , county & state lic. everytime you move....I did the hot dog cart thing for awhile.....made money , but did alot of hours chasing permits and paperwork for free!

 

[David]

No it would be an employee for sure just a worker for traveling money. I was thinking if the job paid my way for a bit it might be something to look into. I wouldn't attempt to jump into a business I knew nothing about.

I understand the days you worked would be busy, but I wonder how much down time between events there usually is in order to get some actual looking around done.

 

[Patrick46]

I'm a traveling pinstriper/lettering/& graphics guy. I travel and work at motorcycle rallys....mostly.
I could work at rod runs too, but I'm a motorcycle nutcase first and foremost.

I don't hafta deal with the health issues like the food vendors do, which is cool, but somma the events vendor's fees are outrageous!!! You learn to pick and choose which ones to work at wisely after awhile. Some are awesome moneymakers with nominal overhead, and some are overtly expensive and have pathetic turnouts, often based on timing involved with conflicting event schedules.

Set-up is usually done on Thursdays, and teardowns on Sunday evening once the event concludes. Often, you get free camping on location (which is extremely handy and cost effective). Travel and play time is between runs.
I can haul my small display and paint kit in a mini-camper trailer I can pull behind my own bike, so I actually get to ride to most of my events, so that's a big plus for me!!!
Bigger shows I take the RV.


I'm typing this as I just returned home from my spring opener run. I didn't do great financially, but I made alotta great contacts, and the food, the band and the weather at the event this year were stellar!! Good times!!
(sometimes, money isn't everything!)

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Patrick...where was this run??
Come on, guy, you know we like to see pics

---

`

A person can follow the Ren Faires, and any number of shows, events, and flea markets, including places like Quartzsite (in winter). Online there are resources for finding them. Sometimes venders only need set-up and tear-down help, and you can establish "fill-in work" during the show/market, especially with larger vendor booths.
Food vending often requires a local food handler's card for a small fee. (a food vender will know what you need).

We've seen people walking vendor's dogs and helping with various chores for busy vendors, making some daily pocket cash. Some of them (like in Q.), have gone there every winter for years and have "regulars" they work for. Doesn't pay a lot, but it can float your boat if you're honest and a good hand that can follow instructions (these folks are particular).

When I was younger there was only "word of mouth" and some trade ads for events/shows. Now, the younger (able bodied) traveler can access vast circuits of places to make money on the road and have fun doing it.

 

[akrvbob]

I know many people who work at the vendor tents in Quartzsite and a few who have went on to work other places. Here, most are paid minimum wage under the table--no taxes. But I don't know if that is common.

I have a couple of friends who worked as ushers for Cirque de Soleile (no idea of spelling!). One has done it for 3 winters in a row and loves it. he lives in a Class C and they let him stay in the parking lot for free (literally a parking lot). His first year was in San Diego and he was parked 100 yards from the ocean! They travel around so he has done it in San Diego, San Francisco and Denver. He loves it. He got the job through a temp agency.
Bob

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Lots of contractors move from one city to another. A fellow we met in Winnemucca had been working on new Taco Bells all over the west for 3 years making good money. He had worked up to a nice truck and small 5er which we parked on site in many cases.

Any traveling show (such as Bob mentioned) needs a regular crew, even if they hire temps locally.

 

[Unchained]

I'll second Bindinus on the Ren Faire circuit. Get a costume, learn to speak like Shakespeare (or talk like a pirate, most aren't all that particular), and you can land a gig that is Fri-Sun for a couple of weeks to two months and often includes camping/parking and/or hookups in the deal, esp for event staff or concessions. Pay varies greatly, but if you can get in with an alehouse, you are set on tips alone. Once you establish yourself as a good worker with experience, you will be able to find jobs year round at various events.

I worked the Faire circuit for over a decade, over a decade ago, and could probably still walk onto the lot of nearly any one and come out with a job

 

[Patrick46]

So, for David (the OP), you can see that there are all kinza choices and opprotunities available for working at rallys, faires, carnivals, and events throughout the year. All depends on whacha wanna do.

Another thing that hasn't been posted here is craft fairs. Are you creative? Got an interesting hobby or skill you could work with??

There are craft fairs just about every weekend somewhere in this big land, and if you've got something you can produce, you could make your own living making and selling your own stuff. No need to get a job with someone else.

Something small that you could work on while at your campsite makes it all that much funner. You can then also trade and barter with your fellow travelers for things or services needed on your rig...( I LOVE bartering & trading!!)
Also, finding a way to make money using recycled materials is not only good for our Mother Earth, but it keeps your overhead down to nil!

Neat thread. I love reading about this sorta stuff...and I think it's something we can ALL benefit from!! Even if you're retired...I think making things while out on the road would help make your days and life more interesting and fulfilled.
(or maybe it's that I'm just such a buzy-body, that I can't sit still long enough to NOT be doing something!!)

 

[David]

Actually my intent is to get my web business going again. I ran a bunch of websites for quite a while and made decent money with it. I actually did as my sole income for over 4 years of that time but when the economy crashed it kinda went to crap and I was left with little to show for my efforts.

It was the perfect way to make an income for traveling but at the time I didn't travel. I'm looking to get back into that, but things have changed a lot and I've been out of the loop for several years, meaning it's almost like starting from scratch due to the things I did before being mostly obsolete today.

For this current road trip I'm on, I have to get some filler work here and there in the meantime. I'm in Austin now and knew they have a lot of events so I was looking up related jobs and saw the traveling concession workers ads.

I contacted one of them, that travels around but seems they want people whom ride & live with them. They only paid $300/week which would be enough to survive on but not enough in my opinion for the time commitment of traveling full time with them.

I did however contact another guy that was offering $100/day for a 3day show in Austin next weekend. I haven't heard back, but that seems like a reasonable gig to me if I get it.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Looks like a fun event to work...

http://austinreggaefest.com/the-bands/

 

[David]

Looks like a fun event to work...

http://austinreggaefest.com/the-bands/

That is the event that was paying $100/day from the CL ad but I never heard back, so I assume he must already of lined up his help.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

That is the event that was paying $100/day from the CL ad but I never heard back, so I assume he must already of lined up his help.

Can't win 'em all.

You might connect with some vendors at Butler Park on Thursday or early Friday morning...like 5-6am. Hope you catch a break and score your first event gig. Upside...Austin has a lot going on.
Check for convention center events too.

Scarborough Ren Fest is going on in Waxahachie...
http://www.srfestival.com/directions/information-booth/directions.html

Other Ren Fairs...
http://www.therenlist.com/fairs

 

[WheelEstate USA]

Thanks to our ever watchful mod team, my post, which went to spam filters causing our account to be BANNED, was posted in full and the account restored to active status.

David, I hope the info helps and wish you all the best.

`

 

[SoulRaven]

Actually my intent is to get my web business going again. I ran a bunch of websites for quite a while and made decent money with it. I actually did as my sole income for over 4 years of that time but when the economy crashed it kinda went to crap and I was left with little to show for my efforts.

It was the perfect way to make an income for traveling but at the time I didn't travel. I'm looking to get back into that, but things have changed a lot and I've been out of the loop for several years, meaning it's almost like starting from scratch due to the things I did before being mostly obsolete today.

Greetings!

If you know how to make websites that are compatible for everybody, then your services can make you good money.

I know quite a number of people doing this:

Get yourself and unlimited storage/bandwidth webserver.

Run an ad on CL offering free simple websites, on your website state that the websites are free with hosting (19.95/mo.)

You'll be swamped, and can put together 100 or so within a few weeks for a $2k monthly income. If they don't want to go with your hosting, then charge them for the website.

One guy I talked to a while back claims that he has been doing about 100 per month for nearly a year and is making $18k per month in hosting fees.

Then you offer packages with search engine submissions etc. I'm still making about $3800/mo from my search engine submission service. Way down from the good old days, but it all adds up. 100 customers @ $39.95/mo - fees = ~$3800/mo and I have it all set up automatically, so it takes up zero of my time.

I think the days of 1,000's of customers for these services may be over, but it's not too hard to maintain 100 or so for each service. Then just add more services and get 100 or so for each of them. I have just over 100 members paying $19.95/mo for my ebooks with resale rights download site.

I set each site up to be totally automatic, if you're a good programmer this should be a cake walk for you. Then you can sell each of those ebooks on your own ecommerce site, and ebay, and amazon too.

There's still a ton of money to be made on the web, and the old ways are still the best ways near as I can tell. 10 sites x 100 customers each x $10/mo = $100k/year.

Any site that falls below 100, I just buy 1 million unique visitors for about $100, and I'll get 400-500 sign-ups, but most will drop off after 3-4 months, but so what... Next time it falls below 100, repeat.

Some will try to download everything in sight, but who cares, I gave up on trying to police everything. As long as my bottom line is favorable, it just isn't worth the hassle to chase the bad guys, they'll go away on their own. Use one of the web monitoring services to email you if anything goes down, and you're good to go.

I don't even worry about search engine rankings anymore, I just buy traffic if I need it. That's been a lot more effective for me than top search engine rankings ever were.

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[WheelEstate USA]

To me, that's totally amazing. (I'm a web dummy)
I had no idea you could "buy" customers. Of course, I don't really understand the rest of that either.
Shoot, I'm having a terrible time just trying to set up a blog with any kind of features, like some I see. Some are so nice and have cool banners and such.
I admire those who "get it", especially older folks, like myself, who didn't get their first computer till they were "over the hill".

 

[SoulRaven]

To me, that's totally amazing. (I'm a web dummy)
I had no idea you could "buy" customers. Of course, I don't really understand the rest of that either.
Shoot, I'm having a terrible time just trying to set up a blog with any kind of features, like some I see. Some are so nice and have cool banners and such.
I admire those who "get it", especially older folks, like myself, who didn't get their first computer till they were "over the hill".

Greetings!

Yeah, they basically put ads up for you everywhere, and run the click thrus through their site & counter, and keep the ads up until xx number of people have clicked through to your site.

Back in the day, when I ran thousands of websites, I used to sell traffic off them, but I couldn't figure out a way to automate that one, so I got out of it. About 5 years ago I got rid of everything that I couldn't totally automate.

I've still got some of the highest traffic sites on the net though, my yellow pages site gets about 7 million people a day through it.

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[WheelEstate USA]

WOW...I'd be very pleased to have just one way to earn a small income online. The cost of monthly Millenicom service and a little to treat to a nice (mid priced) dinner once a month.

Its wonderful that you have the skills.

 

[SoulRaven]

WOW...I'd be very pleased to have just one way to earn a small income online. The cost of monthly Millenicom service and a little to treat to a nice (mid priced) dinner once a month.

Its wonderful that you have the skills.

Greetings!

I could probably help get you set up with something, it's not that hard if you know what you're doing, and I've had LOTS of practice...

Cheers!

The CamperVan_Man

 

[Starlight]

wow -- yellow pages is a pretty legit idea, alrighty --
reminds me of a business directory I once started... took patience and researching... a lot of work with nothing to show for it... ah well