How to Make Money as a Nomad? (Spoiler Alert: We Are Not Retired)
This is a topic that deserves much more than four paragraphs, but for now, I’ll keep it short and personal. When I left Belgium in 2003, I had no idea it would be “forever”. I took a leave of absence from my teaching job, which allowed a previously unemployed educator to take my job, for which the government rewarded me with a stipend of $300 a month. That gig lasted a few years and I could pretty much live off it, as I toured North and Central America in a truck camper. When Mark first stopped working as an IT manager, interest rates of his savings account were high enough for him to get by on.
When we still found ourselves roaming about – on a 35-foot sailboat this time – in 2007 and were asked how long we’d be keeping that lifestyle up, we said: “Until we get sick of it, or until the money runs out.” Well, boats are expensive to maintain, so I quickly found myself picking up jobs whenever I could, physically and digitally. Over the next eight years, I cleaned boats, homeschooled children, created book lesson plans, wrote articles, walking tours (available on Amazon), and press releases, tended a bar, and started translating.
By the time we sold our boat in 2015, I was officially a “digital nomad”. More importantly, from 2009 until 2018, Mark and I ran a successful Marine WiFi business that put food on the table the initial years and eventually covered our yearly expenses. We’re always extremely busy.
Observations:
- If you really want to work, you will find something. Especially if you are creative and flexible.
- If you can put your skills to use as a freelancer to do online jobs or as a handy man to help out fellow boaters or RVers, you will have an easier time making money.
- Working makes a nomadic lifestyle even more challenging and exhausting!
How This Job Started
Fast forward to February of this year, when Mark had been “retired” for six months and I was occupied with random translations, a monthly editing job, and loads of unpaid work in the form of writing a memoir. We’d successfully interviewed for a job as pet sitters/apartment managers in Grenada (until the owners decided to do it themselves) and applied for two CamperForce positions at Amazon for the 2019 holiday season, after reading Bonnie Gibson-Cunningham’s detailed reports about doing so that winter. She produced a fantastic write-up about that experience here and here. I still remember her positive takeaway: “You get paid to walk 10 – 15 miles a day!” She was back in Campbellsville, KY this year.
Observations:
- This job sounded pretty cool: experiencing a new state, making money, and exercising (losing weight?) all in one.
- Being in a real campground would be interesting.
- I was looking forward to a community feel and maybe making new friends.
What is Amazon CamperForce?
Over the holiday season, the Amazon Fulfillment centers need extra help, stowing, picking, and packing (“fulfilling”) orders placed online. They hire seasonal workers and in certain locations, they look for RVers interested to join the CamperForce team. The requirements are that you live in a camper and are a US resident. For the 2019 season, the company paid up to $550 a month for your Amazon-approved campground, $15 per hour of work for the day shift ($15.75 for the night shift) and 1.5x that during overtime up to 60 hours a week, and upon completion, a bonus of $0.50 per normal hour worked and $1.00 per overtime hour worked. This is manual labor during which one walks 10 – 15 miles per shift and signs up for a four day on/three day off schedule – 40 hours a week. I recommend reading Bonnie’s entertaining and informative posts for more details about all this.
Observations:
- Everything always sounds better “on paper”.
- No two years are the same.
- This year, none of the CamperForce employees’ preferences were taken into consideration.
The Amazon Job
So, Mark and I applied for CamperForce in February and were hired after a couple of online tests. We managed to get spots in Campbellsville, KY, which was the only fulfillment center we were interested in for two reasons: our campground of choice, Heartland RV Park, would be fully paid for (most campgrounds charge more than the $550 a month) and it was in walking distance of the Amazon warehouse. If we wanted to commute, we’d take a better paying and less physical job!
CamperForce in Campbellsville (fulfillment center SDF1) would start the week of November 3rd and run until the week of December 23rd. But, in June 2019, we adopted Maya… Realizing she has separation anxiety and not wanting to leave our sweetheart alone for up to 11 hours a day (we are people who do “everything” with and for our dogs), I pulled out of the job and looked forward to bonding more with Maya (she is extremely attached to Mark) and work from home. Having ten hours a day to myself sounded attractive and productive!
That was until – two weeks before the starting date – we were notified Mark was assigned the night shift! Nothing could change that. After a training period of 20 hours – four five-hour evenings – he’d be picking from 5:30pm until 4am, with a half an hour break for “lunch” at 10:30pm and two ten-minute respites in between. Amazon messed up his application, so he missed out on the first five hours of work. Not a good start. Mandatory overtime was assigned on week two: five nights in a row (Thursday through Monday), Mark worked ten-hour shifts. This meant one full day off a week, Wednesdays, as he didn’t come home until 4:15am on Tuesdays and went back to work at 5:15pm on Thursdays.
(Hover over photos to read captions and click on them to enlarge.)
Amazon provides Ibuprofen, gloves, ice packs, and inner soles in free vending machines. There is a permanent medical team on staff and safety comes first. That being said, the job is incredibly physical and monotonous. Ten hours a night, Mark scanned items, picked them off the shelves – often high (step ladder needed) or low (bending down or kneeling needed) – and put them in totes. Once full, these had to be pushed by cart and dropped off at a conveyor belt. And, the process repeated… in a huge warehouse. Seven weeks of this is a long time. Voluntary extra time was presented, so some peers worked 60 hours a week, and an extension of three weeks was offered. Mark declined. Both.
Observations:
- Most fulltime employees smoke and rush outside during breaks.
- There are many water dispensers throughout the building.
- Styrofoam cups and plastic cutlery is what’s available in the cafeteria.
- Most employees LOVE Amazon – the work, the way the company is ran, the efficiency inside the warehouse – almost like a cult.
- There are four TVs in the lunch room: one channel is on CNN, one on Fox, one on HGTV, and one on ESPN (sports).
- You go through a metal detector on your way out of the building, not in. This is to prevent stealing. During training, the new employees learned about what to do if there was a shooting inside the fulfillment center. To Mark’s point: “You can’t steal, but you can get shot at work.”
- Spotted on a T-shirt: “Machine gun day at the riffle range”
- Mark picked some interesting things. Used penile girth enhancer anyone?
- This country’s obesity problem was portrayed in the overwhelmingly amount of humongous clothing items Mark picked. His “record” was a 7X shirt. He had to show the others! When T-shirts to employees were offered on a table, there was one row with S,M,L and two more rows with XL, XXL, XXXL and XXXXL, XXXXXL, XXXXXXL.
- Conversation a few days into Mark working for CamperForce:
Manager: “You’ve worked here before, right?”
Mark: “Nope. I’ve never worked for Amazon.”
Manager: “Not even at another location?”
Mark: “No.”
Manager: “Wow, you catch on fast!”
The Campground
Mark and I reserved our spot – based on easy accessibility to grass for Maya, privacy as an end spot, proximity to the fulfillment center (you could see it from there), and being away from the busiest roads – in March, eight months ahead of time, and confirmed that particular site (#75) two weeks before we showed up. As we checked into Heartland RV Park, we were told “our” spot had been assigned to someone else… We settled in #5, next to a big field-turned-swamp during rainy days and close to a very busy, loud “highway”. The WiFi never worked.
This was the very first time Mark and I stayed in an RV park with full hook-ups: unlimited water, electricity, and sewage at our site. Luxury! Plus, there were three washing machines and dryers, a Club House to hang out in (campers watched TV here and built puzzles), and hot showers. We never hooked Zesty up to the services at our site, worried about frozen lines and stagnant waste, but it was easy to fill the fresh water tank and dump the other tanks without moving.
Observations:
- Many campers have dogs and most engage someone off shift to walk them at “halftime”.
- Despite the many dogs and walkers frequenting grassy areas, there are irresponsible people not picking up after their pets. One couple even had an aggressive dog that attacked other dogs.
- There is not much of a social scene.
- The day shift people rarely see or interact with the night shift people.
- Conversation doing laundry one day:
He, with a heavy southern accent: “I detect an accent. Where are you from?”
Me, trying to understand his accent: “Belgium.”
He, with a Texan smile: “They have some nice guns in Belgium!”
The Neighborhood
There were no trails in our area to hike with Maya, so I took her for a one-hour walk through the closest neighborhood every day, rain, snow, or shine. Once I turned off the main road, it was relatively quiet, apart from the many dogs barking as Maya passed through. It was not the most exciting of times, but this had to suffice on workdays.
Observations:
- People are very friendly.
- Many Kentuckians smoke.
- Every household has a handful of (running and non-running) cars.
- The vehicles are big and loud, especially the trucks and customized ones.
- People are very religious, as in “God created the world”-signs, sweaters, and conversations, “Have a blessed day”- greetings, and “In God We Trust” license plates and public school signs.
- Sweatpants are the preferred attire – at Amazon and elsewhere (stores, restaurants, sidewalks).
- There is an incredible amount of garbage along the road sides.
- Styrofoam and plastic cutlery are the go-to utensils for buffets, cafeterias, and take-outs. You wouldn’t think it’s almost 2020.
- The accent and slur are VERY strong. I miss half of every conversation, unfortunately.
Limited Time off
Initially, Mark and I had grand plans. His proposed schedule had three days off every week; imagine what we could do… We planned to take off on two or three-day “weekends” and explore the entire state during this seven-week stay in Kentucky. Ha-ha! Or is it ho-ho?
As I mentioned before, we had one 24-hour period off every week. Plus, Mark was exhausted and sore. Plus, that was the time he could catch up on sleep. Plus, there were chores to take care of that required the van. And, we had plenty of issues in regards to orders, packages, Maya’s GPS-tracker, electronics, and a change in health care plans that needed hours on the phone, by Mark.
Yet, every Wednesday, we took Maya to a different forest or park to go for a two to three-mile hike, where she could finally run off leash and get the exercise she needed. Those became our favorite days. They started late, around 1pm, but included grocery shopping and a cheap dinner out or take-out food, once settled at our site again. If nothing else, we surely learned to appreciate days off again!
Observations:
- We will do our Kentucky sightseeing after Mark finishes this job.
- Mark will need to rest up before we hit the road again.
- We better have some fun once all this is over!
What Did I Do?
All Mark could muster on workdays was work, sleep, and eat. He also added a shower, internet time, and sometimes a bit of playing or training with Maya. We have come to the conclusion that night shifts might be the perfect job for people who don’t require a lot of sleep, as in six hours or so. When you need at least eight and are awoken often, this is not conducive to doing much else.
As for me… I had to adjust my schedule quite a bit and was mostly bummed about my lack of productivity. I had counted on ten hours a day to work myself, while in reality it was more like six, based on other chores and (depleted) nighttime energy and creativity.
I’d go to bed around 2am and sleep for a couple of hours before Mark arrived, needed downtime, and joined me before 5am. After being woken up by daytime activity and traffic a few times, I’d rise at 10:30am, check my emails and social media, feed Maya, take her for a walk, drop her off at Zesty, walk another dog, keep her company for a bit, and sit in the Club House with my iPad until Mark was up, usually between noon and 2pm.
I made tea and breakfast, which we consumed together. Dishes and a shower and soon enough, it was 3pm, at which point I had to take Maya for her “long” walk, in order to be back at 4pm, when I made Mark’s sandwich and started cooking. We always felt in a rush during the afternoon. We’d eat dinner at 4:45pm and Mark left at 5:15pm. Dishes, walking Maya again, feeding her, entertaining her, and time for me to start work around 6 or 7pm until midnight or 1am. Reading blogs, leaving comments, and writing my diary always took at least an hour a day as well. And, the cycle started over.
My real achievements include:
- Monthly editing work (twice) for Caribbean Compass
- Two translation projects, one of which lasted an entire ten days
- Creating one article and one anthology story submission
- Publishing nine blogs on Roaming About
- Researching book publishers
- Proofreading one book (and taking extensive notes) for an author friend
- Archiving hundreds of photos
- Staying on top of emails, social media, and blog reading and commenting
- Reading one book of a blogging friend in order to leave a review
- Applying for translation and transcription jobs with other companies – nothing panned out yet
- Querying my memoir to 40 more agents in order to reach my 130-agent goal this year
- Creating personal New Year’s calendars for my loved ones – Dutch and English versions
- Researching free camping options in Florida for this winter
Observations:
- We are not fans of night work.
- We are looking forward to hitting the road again and roaming around forests with Maya.
- We can’t wait to reach warmer weather!
Will We Be Back?
No.
Observations:
- We met nice CamperForce people who we hope will remain friends.
- This was an interesting once-in-a-lifetime experience; not the bucket-list kind.
- We will keep looking for different jobs.
- There is much more to share, but I think you all agree that this was enough.
While this post is written in the past, Mark’s official end date is Monday, December 23rd, 2019.
Do you have any interesting job experiences to share? I’d love to read about them in the comments.
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