VAN LIFE ｜ HOW I MAKE MONEY + BACKGROUND

Welcome back to my channel. So I am in Wyoming at the moment. I've been staying in the Grand Tetons for, I guess it's been three weeks now. And oh my gosh, I love it. Today I want to talk about one of my biggest questions that I get. How do I make money? So a lot of you, you know, you see this lifestyle and you're like, okay, cool. You live in a van and it seems like you never work. You're always in beautiful places. Like how do you do that? Is someone paying your way? Like how do you make money on the road? In this video, I'm going to share how I personally earn a remote income while living on the road full-time and how I diversify my revenue streams. And also a little bit of background about what led me to here. I was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and my mom had me when she was really young. She was 16. So we lived with my grandparents until I was six. And then she wanted to break out on her own. So we lived in a car for a little while. Ended up in Wisconsin where we lived in a basement and she sold books door to door. I did not grow up with money. We were on food stamps for the whole time, as far as I can remember. And yeah, so I'll just put it that way. However, my parents did always encourage me to focus on my education and to have a hard work ethic. I got a job working at a burger joint called Culver's in Oshkosh, Wisconsin at pick and save and the produce department. From there, I started working at a shoe store, famous footwear. I also worked as a pool waitress at the country club. That's a little bit of background that led me up to college. I went to college for my first year at the university of Wisconsin, Oshkosh. And then I decided I was just over Wisconsin and I wanted to try something new. So since I was paying for myself, I decided why not pay to go to Hawaii? So I sold everything that I had and I had four cardboard boxes that I shipped out to Hawaii. I did not know a single person. I was actually supposed to move out there with a good friend. And then at the last minute, her parents were like, we'll get you an apartment and a car if you'll stay. So she stayed. Sad, very sad, but it all worked out anyway. I ended up going to school in Hawaii, the university of Hawaii Manoa and I studied a business. So I got my bachelor of business administration and I also got a minor in Spanish and oh my gosh, probably the best decision I've ever made in my whole life was going to school in Hawaii. It was very expensive. I remember specifically a gallon of milk was $7. I ended up, um, working a ton of different jobs. First, I started working at Abercrombie and Fitch as a model, uh, while going to school full time. And then I also picked up a job as a waitress. I ended up working at, I think like four or five different restaurants. Then I also started modeling and that paid the bulk of my bills. Um, I did like magazines runway. Uh, I was an extra lost. I hosted events for like Rolex and, um, Oh, I did one for Tiffany's or no, sorry. Harry Winston. That was really fun. They like put me in this big gown and I had to wear diamonds and walk around and people would buy them and weird stuff. Yeah. And also Craigslist gigs. I got, you know, like some hosting jobs. I worked as a retail manager at Puma and also Starbucks and ended up back at Abercrombie, which I loved. I ended up working with them for eight years in Hawaii, managing two different stores. And then I went to California, Colorado, Ohio, and Kentucky. And then I asked my manager if there was any way I could move up to the international team. So I interviewed for that. And that's when things really changed. I went over to London and I managed, um, the flagship store there. And then I was sent to Italy. Meanwhile, I was taking Italian lessons. So I also speak fluent Italian. When I showed up at the store in Italy, I just, it was a completely different dialect than what I had learned. Campania Italian is very like, um, it's very different being fully immersed in a different country. Not only having to like function as an adult and a member of society, they're like learning how to say, how do I turn on my heat to communicate job duties and build relationships. I had a great time there. I learned a lot. One of those things being that the corporate life was not for me. When that contract ended, I just took time off. I shipped all my stuff from my Southern Italian apartment to a storage unit in the U S and I just took a backpack and started traveling. And that turned into 11 months of traveling. I ended up going around the world. Like that wasn't intentional, just kept going from country to country, started dating someone in the Middle East. And we moved together to Monterey, California. Um, I again, didn't know anyone there, but he had a job offer there. So he was like, do you want to move in together? So I started looking around at different retail positions and I just realized that my heart wasn't in it. Like I do anything to not have to go back to that nine to five lifestyle. So what I ended up doing is what I had done in college. I just went on Craigslist and started looking at gig listings. And there was this local artist slash painter photographer that was looking for an assistant to work just six hours a week. I did everything from like clearing out her garage to applying for her dual citizenship in a different country to sending out email newsletters, helping with social media, uh, contacting PR people. She generously introduced me to her friends. And over time I built a clientele list of 12 different like artists, videographers, painters, sculptors, um, small business owners. And that was amazing. I was loving it. But at the same time I was really falling in love with Big Sur and taking photos and exploring the area. And I was really, really wanting to build my photography portfolio. So I, at the time was planning a trip to do John Muir trail. That is a 240 mile trek through the Sierra Nevada wilderness. Leading up to that trip, I was posting on Instagram and kind of getting my work out there. A PR agent who represented Samsung reached out and said, Hey, do you have any cool trips coming up? Um, we'd love to collaborate with you in some way. And I was like, well, I actually have the JMT. That's kind of where my, um, exploration into a career as a photographer began. I realized that it was actually pretty lucrative, especially when you tie social media into it. So for the past five years, I've been building my career as a freelance photographer and a content creator. So what does that look like? Like, what does that even mean? I partner with brands and tourism boards to create engaging content, um, through video storytelling, photography, and they use that content either on their website or social media channels. Um, maybe there's a new product launch and they want to create a lot of energy around that. So I collaborate with them to promote that product or new launch, um, for tourism boards. I'm going traveling to that location, usually on a travel itinerary to experience some of the best excursions and just beautiful destinations that that place has to offer. And I'm sharing that through a blog post or through my own social media channels. And then again, they're using my photos to promote like on, um, billboard advertising, magazine advertising, et cetera. I work with a lot of tech brands, luxury brands, and outdoor gear, outdoor adventure type brands. Some examples of clients that I have worked with are Land Rover, Canon, Adobe, Acura, Phase One, Nike, Mazda, Eddie Bauer, visit Reno Tahoe, visit Florida, visit Dominican Republic, Samsung, travel Alberta. What that looks like in working with brands is typically we'll sign a contract where they're giving me X amount of dollars for X amount of deliverables. Some examples of deliverables are image assets, photos that they can use for social web or whitelisting, additional paid advertising, um, image licensing, or also I would create content and then share it on my social media channels, be that Instagram or YouTube and also blog posts, uh, linking back to that brand's website. There's quite a few different ways that you can work with brands, but those are just some general examples. In terms of revenue streams, I have six different sources of income and I'm going to go over each of those, but first I want to spin off of what I just talked about, sponsored content. So this video is sponsored by Logitech. It's actually my first YouTube sponsorship ever. So pretty stoked on that. This guy right here, is that in focus? This is the Logitech MX Anywhere 3. What I do requires sitting in front of a computer for a long period of time. Having a mouse just, I don't know, it makes a big difference. This mouse is a whole new level. It literally works on any kind of surface. I can use it on my desk surface. I can use it on my bed, which is crazy. I'm looking at this beautiful view and I can just work on my laptop. I can use a picnic table, stays powered for up to 70 days on a full charge and it is USB powered. It also has button customization for Photoshop and Premiere Pro. It's also just good to not have that repetitive motion. You're like, sometimes I will sit on my laptop and not use the mouse, but then it's really good to have other times when I can use the mouse and just to switch it up and kind of give my hands a break. It's a simple, clean design, which I love and it's built to withstand road life. I am not going to lie, I dropped it once already. It still works like a champ. It's $79.99, comes in three different colors. I obviously chose this clean white and gray color because it matches the van and I love that. If you want to check it out, there is a link below. Thank you again, Logitech, for sponsoring this video. So that is revenue stream number one for me. Sponsored content. Primarily on Instagram, now YouTube for the first time ever. I just want to point out how important it is that if you're going to go down this road, you work with brands that you actually use, you actually trust, you actually would buy anyway. Second is commercial photography and image licensing. When a brand is having a product launch, they will typically bring someone like me on board and I'm doing multiple jobs. Taking photos, sharing Instagram stories, sharing content on my personal social media channels. Maybe I'm doing a blog post, but primarily I'm there to do heights and angles, POVs, all kinds of different image assets of that product that they can then use for media releases, their website, advertising and whatnot. So that makes up kind of like the combination of those two things is what makes up the bulk of my income. Number three, modeling. So when I was in college, I did this on a more regular basis. More recently, like in the past couple of years, I've worked with Nike to launch one of their, I think it was the fall collection. I modeled for Black Diamond for a new product launch that was centered around their new line of rain gear. And so for Eddie Bauer, we were sent to Peru and we had a additional photographer and videographer there. And we basically just out hiking and exploring Cusco and the surrounding areas. And we're being documented while doing that, that they can then use for their in-store marketing and yeah, just promoting the new fall collection. Number four, print sales. So I am a landscape photographer. I have a print shop. I do work with a company now that makes it possible to still sell prints while on the road. And that's pretty good source of income, especially around Christmas season. So yeah, if you're interested in seeing my work and you want to maybe buy a print, head over to my print shop. Number five, YouTube ad revenue. I had no idea that you could make money on YouTube in this way. And unfortunately I missed out on the bulk of it because I didn't sign up for monetization until after my van tour video had really picked up, but that's okay. The amount of money that I do make from ad revenue, it's enough to encourage me to keep coming on here and posting content that you guys find valuable. So thank you to all of you who are watching. And number six, affiliate links. I really don't pour a lot of energy into this. I just recently started putting links down in my YouTube captions, but I don't promote these anywhere else except for my website. I have like a one little button that says gear that I use. It's like a very, very small kickback, but Hey, it's cool. I honestly, I think I've made like $200 since beginning affiliate links. So it's not even, it wouldn't even make it on the pie chart if I were to do a pie chart of my income sources, but I'm hoping that it'll grow over time because it's a passive source of income and passive is always the goal. Okay. So how much can you actually make while living on the road? Um, that entirely depends on how hard you hustle and how talented you are and the connections you have. A lot of things play into that. I make a decent income. I make more than I made as a, you know, living the corporate life as an international general manager working overseas. So I think, like I said, if you're willing to work hard and you're willing to do the research and, um, yeah, really invest in your craft, whatever that may be, you can definitely make a good living, even living in a van on the road, working remotely. A lot of companies are reevaluating whether or not they actually need their employees to come in and sit at a desk and pay for office space. If you can convince your employer, um, to maybe let you start working remotely one day, two day, maybe more often. And you can build that trust. Maybe you also could work remotely and live on the road and wake up to beautiful vistas and then go find someplace with wifi and sit down and work. Cause that's what, that's what my life looks like at least 50% of the time. I want to show you guys this view. This is why I love to live on the road. You guys like I'm working and I'm technically in my office, but I can just take a break and step outside and so nice. But I just want to say thank you to everyone who is still watching my channel. And, um, I'm excited to put up more content for you guys. So yeah, let me know in the comments below, uh, what you think, if you have any other questions and if you want to see examples of commercial work that I do check out my website, I'll link that below. And, um, I'm not sure what to make the next video about, but if you guys have suggestions, let me know. Talk to you soon.