The Workamper Show Podcast

Marcia Mercer comes back on the show to elaborate on her personal experience as a solo, full-time RVer and about the types of jobs she has performed during the seven years she has been Workamping. People like her have decided they won’t let age or the fact they are single prevent them from enjoying the life they’ve always imagined. Some people reach a certain stage in life where they feel compelled to just slow down, stop working, stop dreaming and opt for a daily routine. Marcia’s life is much richer because she keeps her dreams alive.

Johanna D’Aleo has been Workamping for more than four years. She started by living in a teardrop trailer and recently traded that in for a 19.5-foot RV. While some folks may find that cozy, Johanna shares the space with her 100-pound dog, Kia. She offers some great advice about finding jobs and things to do to make life on the road more hassle-free.

Jeff Bown technically started Motorhome Tires out of his garage 35 years ago. Today, his company is a massive network of more than 4,000 certified installers nationwide. Together, they complete nearly a thousand mobile tire installations every year. Jeff describes how balancing beads are better than traditional spin balancing, why tire age is more important than tread wear, what pressure tires should be inflated to, and how a simple device can help motorhome drivers maintain control in a blowout situation. Alot of what he talks about applies to towable RVs as well.

Dan Marlow is a certified public accountant and the owner of Valor Tax Services in Kansas City, Mo. His firm is a franchise of Jackson Hewitt Tax Services, which provides professional tax preparation services nationwide. Preparing taxes is not as hard as it looks. Workampers will not be preparing complicated business tax returns for corporations, although they may prepare returns for self-employed individuals. Most of the time, they will be working with people who just feel more comfortable having a professional prepare and review their taxes.

Amazon, the online retail giant, has been hiring Workampers for years as part of its CamperForce program. It’s a community of enthusiastic RVers who work seasonal jobs picking, packing, stowing and receiving products at one of 11 warehouses in eight states. Those warehouses are located in Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Lisa Sarver and Jason Carletti launched My RV Inspection three years ago near Tampa. They have inspected more than 450 RVs since then. In fact, they make enough money that Lisa was able to leave a lucrative job as a traveling medical technician. Lisa describes what goes into a typical inspection, how long they take and how much money they can earn. She also describes what type of advertising and promotion worked for them, and outlines some of the expenses they incur throughout the year. This is a good episode for anyone contemplating purchasing an RV to listen to because Lisa explains why having an RV inspected is a necessity.

Michelle Burton is the general manager of Wading Pines Campground in Chatsworth, N.J. It’s an unusual campground in that it’s in the woods, but only 30 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean, one hour from Philadelphia and all the history there, and two hours from New York City. Wading Pines typically hires about 15 Workampers every year. They do things like maintain the grounds, operate a general store, housekeeping, take reservations, check in campers, and serve food in the snack shop.

Sylven and Adrian Watson are looking forward to the day they can uproot their lives and head out onto the open road. They have both done quite a bit of camping during their lives, and they just love being outdoors. Even though the couple has owned an RV for 14 years, they opted to enroll in the new RV Dreamers Journey course to get answers to some lingering questions so they could feel more confident about living in an RV full time.

Just doing two inspections a month, Bryan Carbonnell can bring in $1,400, on average. He can more than double that by completing minor repairs where he can charge $100 per hour. There are very few expenses, like insurance, that are deducted from his monthly income. Nor does he need to do a lot of promotion. They are both ideal Workamping businesses to operate on the road.

Lynn Hupp dreamed about the RV lifestyle for many years, and two major life changes earlier this year nudged her to jump out and make that dream a reality. Yet, she still wasn’t quite confident enough in her knowledge or abilities in order to become a full-time RVer. So, she enrolled in the Workamper News’ new RV Dreamers Journey online course designed for people like Lynn who want to soak up all the information they can about the lifestyle and the opportunities it presents. It required a minimal investment of money and some time, but she knew she’d get enough information to determine if the full-time RV lifestyle was right for her.

John Huggins and his wife, Kathy, founded the Living the RV Dream group. They were full-time RVers for quite some time and were one of the pioneers in creating online communities. The couple also served as Workampers nearly the entire time they were on the road. So, they are very well experienced in setting up and taking down an RV, and getting ready to hit the road again. The key is to develop a routine, and that starts will creating a checklist that is specific to your rig and your equipment. In this episode, John offers advice to take the stress and hassle out of RV set up.

As residents of New England, Don and Pat Hawes spend most of their winters Workamping in southern states from Florida to Arizona, but always returned to their northern home in summer to spend time with their children and grandkids. They were Workamping 20 years ago before they even knew what it was when they helped in the kitchen and ran special events at a seasonal RV park in New Hampshire in exchange for a free campsite. Through their experiences, the greatest benefit they’ve enjoyed has been the people they have met – either fellow Workampers or campers who were staying at the RV parks.