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Working from the Road
Tosha Tingey • May 10, 2019
How we make a living from the road so we can travel full-time
One of the most frequently asked questions we get is ”How can you afford to travel full-time?”
Well, I’m going to tell you!
Our Story
Once we decided to travel full-time, we knew we had to figure out how to work from the road.
At the time I was employed at a hospital working as a surgical technologist in the operating room. I enjoyed what I did but also wanted to stay at home with my daughter Addie. I originally started to look into traveling scrub tech positions. And while that’s not the direction I went in, it’s still something I would like to do in the future.
I also have always loved writing and have done little writing gigs in the past so I explored ways to do jobs that I could take on the road.
Jonathan was working for a marketing company that allowed him to have fairly flexible hours. We started talking with his manager about working in a position that would allow him to work from the road.
Then that all changed.
Unexpectedly on February 13, 2018, Jonathan was called by his manager and HR rep. The call was to inform him that not only he but his entire department was being let go. While we were devastated at first, this was the exact push we needed to get our plan in motion.
Jonathan has always had a dream to create his own business. He knew the marketing field extremely well and more importantly, knew how to do it better than the companies he had worked for.
Two months later Adify Marketing was born.
That sentence makes it sound really easy, but the reality of that sentence was not easy at all. There were struggles and sacrifices that only we’ll remember. But today, in hindsight, it has become just one sentence in our entire success story.
Our Business
Adify Marketing
is an online marketing company that offers SEO, Websites, Social Media, Branding & more. I am so proud of this business and so grateful that we can do everything online from the road.
We work with and try to hire other full-time traveling families to help allow others to work from the road and fulfill their dreams as well.
I have loved helping others turn their dreams into businesses. I’ve been so fortunate to meet many insightful people that have inspired me.
It is such a privilege to help other people with their businesses and aid them in being successful.
Working from the Airstream
One challenge we knew we would have while working from our Airstream on the road was Wi-Fi. We MUST be connected to the Internet to serve our clients so it is a major priority for us. While we have a system worked out right now, I know this will change and hopefully improve as we continue to work and see what works best for us.
Right now, we have the following:
Verizon MiFi Unlimited
The Wi-Fi we mainly use when we are working from the Airstream.
Verizon Hum
This gives Wi-fi while we drive
I love this option because I can get a lot of work done on driving days. And at times when we may not get a signal at our campsite, we can drive somewhere and work from our car.
T-Mobile Hotspot from a tablet
We also have a tablet for work that has a hotspot.
T-Mobile phones
Currently, we’re with T-Mobile and have limited data. This will change because we quickly discovered that we run out of that data so fast.
We may stay with T-Mobile but we’re also looking into AT&T so we have a wide range of Wi-fi options as we travel around the country.
So you want to earn money on the road:
My biggest advice is to get creative! There’re so many needs in the world and you can make a living from doing so many things. Figure out what YOUR skills are and how you can apply those from the road.
The second bit of advice is, take the leap. I am the kind of person that likes knowing where my next paycheck is coming from and how much it is. Starting a business was terrifying for me!
But as we went along, I was surprised that it wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. We work around the clock, but when we need to have family time, we can do that! The payout is so worth getting up early and staying up late to get work done.
I heard this thought from somewhere and I’ll try to summarize it the best I can:
Many people are scared to work for themselves because they’re worried about the source of income. It may feel safer to work for one company and receive that steady paycheck. But what they don’t realize is that when you work for yourself, you have several companies or people you are receiving a paycheck from. So if you get fired from one company, you still have several others supporting your income.
I hope anyone who reads this, can gain one extra ounce of courage to go for their dreams and love what you do each day of your lives.
Check out this blog post at Air-streaming.com
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