8 ways we make money in Van Life | VAN LIFE REMOTE JOBS

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome if you’re thinking about full time van life is what you will do to make money.

Look, making money is just a realty we all have to face with today’s daily expenses, especially if you want to travel full time.

So, what will you do to create a remote income that will allow full time van life?

We are going to share 8 ways we make money in van life in hopes that it inspires you and gives you some ideas how on you can create passive and non-passive income streams.

Before we jump into that, it’s important to figure out what your monthly expenses are and how much you want to save every month, so you know how much income you’ll need. Be sure to sit down and add up your expenses like:

• insurance

• cell phone bill

• car/debt payments or other loan payments

• gas & vehicle maintenance

• food

• entertainment/other activities

• having an emergency fund and savings

Now let’s move on to the fun stuff…

8 Ways We Make Money in Van Life

There are two main ways we make money: passive and non-passive.

Passive income is just like what it sounds like - it’s passive! That means we don’t necessarily have to trade our time for money like a traditional job.

On the other hand, the non-passive income we make we DO have to work for. This means it actually takes time daily to make this income.

We are big fans of having multiple income streams so that you aren’t ever relying on one source of income for your livelihood. The more ways you can make money, the better! As they say, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket!

Here are the ways we make passive income:

1. Our own programs

   • we have 3 main programs we offer online: the Van Layout Guide, the Van Starter Guide, and Creator Club

2. Amazons affiliate program

   • we link to products we use in our van builds through Amazon’s affiliate program. This means that if anyone clicks on an amazon link on our website and purchases, we receive a small commission.

3. Other affiliate programs

   • we also recommend other products in the van life space, and when someone purchases through one of our referral links we receive a small commission.

4. Google adsense

   • Once you reach 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours on YouTube, you can apply to have your YouTube channel “monetized.” This means Google will run ads at the beginning/middle of your YouTube videos in exchange for a small amount of money. This doesn’t add up to be a lot at first, but over time as you grow your channel this can be a nice recurring income monthly.

Here are the ways we make non-passive income:

1. Custom Van Builds for clients

   • we build custom van conversions for a small number of clients each year. This takes a substantial amount of work, but we really do enjoy it!

2. Van Build Consulting

   • we offer private consulting for those who are doing their own DIY van conversions

3. Service/Maintenance work on Van Conversions

   • we service and do maintenance work on clients vans as well as others who are looking for upgrades and general service on their van conversions.

4. Sponsorships

   • we take on a few key partnerships with brands like Battle Born Batteries and Squarespace. They pay a yearly or monthly sponsorship fee for deliverables like YouTube content, website exposure, etc.

So there you have it! That’s how we make money through van life.

Some of these income streams take a lot of work and have been built up over time, but getting started is key! We hope this helped you brainstorm some ideas on how you can create multiple income streams for yourself.