Making Money Whilst Cruising - How Did that Turn Out ?

[David_Old_Jersey]

As a companion to the http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ist-37982.html thread - just wondering how people actually got on in earning money whilst travelling away from home (doesn't have to be boat specific).

Some add info would be nice say, on whether legal work or simply cash in hand . and whether it involved staying in places for extended periods (more than would have done with a full bank account). Don't need to give away too many secrets

Also would be interesting to hear from those who did not manage to raise enough (any?) cash along the way - and there reflections upon the reasons........

There is a "Just want to see the results option".

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

As a companion to the http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ist-37982.html thread - just wondering how people actually got on in earning money whilst travelling away from home (doesn't have to be boat specific).
Legal Work/
Beach concession towing a Banana/Ringo's/Kneeboard & Waterski Tuition.
Yacht Delivery's
Boatyards
Some add info would be nice say, on whether legal work or simply cash in hand .
Cash in Hand/
Free diving, Painting/Decorating, Boatyards/Salvage, day hire...
and whether it involved staying in places for extended periods (more than would have done with a full bank account).
Yes... for sure... a few times...
Don't need to give away too many secrets
Okay...

Also would be interesting to hear from those who did not manage to raise enough (any?) cash along the way - and there reflections upon the reasons........
Well... it a sorta Up then Down... then Up... just not bouncing quite as high these days....


There is a "Just want to see the results option".

Definitely not starving or anything... same issue's as others... sometimes the boat has to do without for a little while..
Heck..... its a 7yr thing...
New Bounce in 2012

[AnchorageGuy]

We have been freelance writers for several boating publications for 15 years and are still publishing. I also do consulting work for Marinalife and provide their members with Navigational Notices and updates on almost a daily basis. I do other work for them besides the Navigational information. All done from a computer where ever we are. We are about a month or two away from release of our own publication. I also still do service tech work when it's available, which is most of the time. We won't get rich but it provides enough income to get the equipment for the boat and will keep us cruising without a major hit to the kitty. Chuck

[Hud3]

We never attempted to make money while cruising, but apropos to the topic, this young couple has managed to completely cover their cruising expenses through corporate sponsorships on their sailing blog, the husband's boat-related skills (deliveries and shipwright work), and the wife's photographic skills. She talks about it here: Question of the Day: How do we make money on this journey?

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by Hud3

We never attempted to make money while cruising, but apropos to the topic, this young couple has managed to completely cover their cruising expenses through corporate sponsorships on their sailing blog, the husband's boat-related skills (deliveries and shipwright work), and the wife's photographic skills. She talks about it here: Question of the Day: How do we make money on this journey?

If you do that approach, then stay away from this forum otherwise you will get crucified

[nigel1]

Not started yet, but I'm lucky enough to be an industry where there is now an incredible shortage of experience, and I have over 30 years of it.'
So the plan is to sort of go free lance tow master/marine consultant.
There is a downside that the temp employer may want me to work more days than I want to, and in this industry, they can get a bit bitchy and not ask you back.
They pay for you to fly where your needed, so does not really matter where I would be in the world.
As an example, a mate phoned me a few weeks ago to go as tow master on a bundle tow out from Wick in Scotland, two weeks work, paying £800 per day, would not need to do many of those to last the year.
Nic eto know the boot is on the other foor now, back in the 80's it was real minimum wage stuff at sea

[S/V Antares]

In the Bahamas one cannot leagally work without a permit. I help folks with outboard issues and other mechanical problems and accept rum as payment in kind. I am not wanting for strong drink.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Thanks for the contributions so far

I figure this thread will be a slow burn............time will tell on that

[ActiveCaptain]

In the original thread, I provided a model for making money while cruising. It's something that we've followed ourselves for 5+ years now with exceptional results. We are swamped with opportunities from marinas and small developers to some of the largest companies in marine electronics. The most difficult thing we face currently is not making money, but deciding which path to proceed down to create the best product possible.

We live on our boat for 9 months a year and are in Maine for 3 (guess which three). We've had top executives from large public companies on our boat and we've had to fly out at times for meetings. The boat hasn't gotten in the way of building a successful business in the slightest. It has had an effect on our cruising and will probably create one more year of being totally swamped like we are now. Even in this condition, we spent 2+ months anchoring along the Chesapeake and ICW completely running everything at anchor. We're currently at a marina in Florida.

People will look at our story and think that it was just good timing. Or that we were lucky. To all of that I say, bull. Opportunities abound right now in 50 areas for boating alone. Extend that to other general areas and the potential for creating real value is endless.

The major mindset shift has to change from, "what can I do right now to earn $50" to "what can I do to build long-term value." That's why service-type businesses run from a boat are difficult to continue. You're always looking for that next $50. Imagine instead if you found a way to build an asset that people wanted and had them looking for you to give you $50. There's a big difference.

There's no book you can buy, no seminar you can take, and no get-rich-quick scheme that is worth anything. You just have to commit to creating real value. If you find my posting from page 3 of that original thread, you'll find all the magic right there for free. You've just gotta do it.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by ActiveCaptain

There's no book you can buy, no seminar you can take, and no get-rich-quick scheme that is worth anything. You just have to commit to creating real value. If you find my posting from page 3 of that original thread, you'll find all the magic right there for free. You've just gotta do it.

Congrats but don't forget to let the folks know how many hours you have put into it over those years.

I recon most would not want to work that hard nor would it contain "love" and "passion" for them like it does for you.

[ActiveCaptain]

Originally Posted by Therapy

I recon most would not want to work that hard nor would it contain "love" and "passion" for them like it does for you.

Like most things in life, the effort you put into something generally controls the level of outcome. There's no question that we've been swamped with work for 2 years now with the outlook of another year of hard work which cuts back into our cruising. I wouldn't trade it with building a company in an office somewhere overlooking a parking lot though.

If you want to generate less income or a smaller asset, find something smaller to be the expert at and follow the same model that I outlined previously.

If that's too much work, there's always lottery tickets or just "hope".

[Zydeco]

Originally Posted by ActiveCaptain

In the original thread, I provided a model for making money while cruising. It's something that we've followed ourselves for 5+ years now with exceptional results. We are swamped with opportunities from marinas and small developers to some of the largest companies in marine electronics. The most difficult thing we face currently is not making money, but deciding which path to proceed down to create the best product possible.

We live on our boat for 9 months a year and are in Maine for 3 (guess which three). We've had top executives from large public companies on our boat and we've had to fly out at times for meetings. The boat hasn't gotten in the way of building a successful business in the slightest. It has had an effect on our cruising and will probably create one more year of being totally swamped like we are now. Even in this condition, we spent 2+ months anchoring along the Chesapeake and ICW completely running everything at anchor. We're currently at a marina in Florida.

People will look at our story and think that it was just good timing. Or that we were lucky. To all of that I say, bull. Opportunities abound right now in 50 areas for boating alone. Extend that to other general areas and the potential for creating real value is endless.

The major mindset shift has to change from, "what can I do right now to earn $50" to "what can I do to build long-term value." That's why service-type businesses run from a boat are difficult to continue. You're always looking for that next $50. Imagine instead if you found a way to build an asset that people wanted and had them looking for you to give you $50. There's a big difference.

There's no book you can buy, no seminar you can take, and no get-rich-quick scheme that is worth anything. You just have to commit to creating real value. If you find my posting from page 3 of that original thread, you'll find all the magic right there for free. You've just gotta do it.

Jeffrey,

Your post (and the one on page three of the original thread) makes a lot of sense. The area of expertise doesn't have to be boat products either. I saw a simple website recently that was nothing but reviews of all the major "Learn to Speak Spanish" programs with a section where you could buy each of the programs reviewed. The author was a Spanish language tutor who wrote what appeared to be straightforward reviews of each of the popular programs.

One thing in your post on page three of the "make money while cruising" thread I am concerned about is this part:

"You pretty much have to know web site technologies to make this happen. If you have to pay someone every time you need to make a small change, you're going to eat up all of your profits. Learning html, css, shopping carts, etc. might seem like a lot. There are vast resources and to be honest, it's really not that hard if you have an open mind about it. Think about all of the thousands of web sites you've run across - the people running them aren't all experienced software developers."

How much skill are you talking about here? I currently write web site content and blog posts for a web development/SEO company and I can load the blog posts in WordPress and the web page content using MODx but that's the extent of it. If I had to learn html, css, php, etc I'd be starting from scratch.

BTW - your Active Captain website is fantastic.

Dave

[ActiveCaptain]

Originally Posted by Zydeco

How much skill are you talking about here?

That's a good question. I'd have to say the answer is, "it depends."

Obviously if you're creating a website where the site itself is the product and is an involved application, that's real software development. But I wasn't thinking along those lines. I was thinking much more about the Spanish learning site example you gave. That's a perfect example and something that any cruiser could implement and generate income with even if they were offshore and beyond internet contact for days at a time.

A simple site that provides content and allows someone to buy something could be easily created with less skills than you think you have right now (you probably know a lot more than you think given what you've done). If you've configured WordPress sites and have an idea about installing server based systems, you're probably well ahead of the game. Much is just knowing what's out there.

At the most simple setup, creating a site and store with something like Yahoo or some of the other store-creation sites could be done by almost anyone. The work is in researching a site that can implement what you need. The next step in complexity would be your own site where you implemented your own shopping cart. Above that would be some type of special processing and interfacing of your store to a distributor or manufacturer for automated order processing or inventory control. Each step is an order of magnitude more complex. In general, knowing more about html, css, and php will certainly be helpful and no matter what path is chosen, there should be learning goals for all of that as the business builds because it will probably become more important as you want to add more capabilities.

[tropicalescape]

I have transformed my vberth into a small workshop and have packed as many as five disassembled motorized paragliders into it.I can assemble a complete aircraft in 3hrs. and can fab. a unit in 16 -20 hrs.I can provide complete certified flight instuction in 3 days, average,some can learn faster than others...I can weld,sew,and machine(very small parts).I hope this will keep me going untill I reach my destination and then I will go back to "regular" work for 3 or 4 years and then retire(I havent had a job since I was 18 yrs. old,now 46)my trade is floor covering so I can work anywhere that they have floors(everywhere)...I have worked in many different countries,some legal others ?..and have never had a problem with the powers that be...I have bought 40 ft contaners of absolute junk and sold it for profit...if you are american you can go thru places like Guam and the virgin islands if you prove residence for 24 hrs. and go duty free...I have sold 100 dozen brooms , 70 lbs of siver jewlery,100s of dozens of t shrits,leather jackets(I think I was the first person in the USA to import and sale those little biker jacket key chains)I have bought and sold things I never saw or touched,just made the deal and got paid for signing a few papers..you take a lot of risk sometime working like this ,having to trust people but when it pays it pays well..there are so many ways to make money ,but the best thing I ever did was learn a trade..as I have fallen back on it many ,many times and it saved the day...I dont have children so I guess I can afford to live this way,I woudnt advise anyone to do what I do because it can get tuff and if you have bills to pay on a regular basis it is not the way to go...anyone can make money while out there sailing around..you just need to keep your eyes and ears open and take some intelligent risks...dont try to reinvent the wheel, more money to be made selling the ones already out there...DVC

[atoll]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

I have transformed my vberth into a small workshop and have packed as many as five disassembled motorized paragliders into it.I can assemble a complete aircraft in 3hrs. and can fab. a unit in 16 -20 hrs.I can provide complete certified flight instuction in 3 days, average,some can learn faster than others...I can weld,sew,and machine(very small parts).I hope this will keep me going untill I reach my destination and then I will go back to "regular" work for 3 or 4 years and then retire(I havent had a job since I was 18 yrs. old,now 46)my trade is floor covering so I can work anywhere that they have floors(everywhere)...I have worked in many different countries,some legal others ?..and have never had a problem with the powers that be...I have bought 40 ft contaners of absolute junk and sold it for profit...if you are american you can go thru places like Guam and the virgin islands if you prove residence for 24 hrs. and go duty free...I have sold 100 dozen brooms , 70 lbs of siver jewlery,100s of dozens of t shrits,leather jackets(I think I was the first in person in the USA to import and sale those little biker jacket key chains)I have bought and sold things I never saw or touched,just made the deal and got paid for signing a few papers..you take a lot of risk sometime working like this ,having to trust people but when it pays it pays well..there are so many ways to make money ,but the best thing I ever did was learn a trade..as I have fallen back on it many ,many times and it saved the day...I dont have children so I guess I can afford to live this way,I woudnt advise anyone to do what I do because it can get tuff and if you have bills to pay on a regular basis it is not the way to go...anyone can make money while out there sailing around..you just need to keep your eyes and ears open and take some intelligent risks...dont try to reinvent the wheel, more money to be made selling the ones already out there...DVC

pity you never had kids,i'm all for selling them on ebay...

ps way to go i' m all for the independent trader as opposed to the ugly face of the corpirate machine that only gives a **** for profit or loss,

pps if they could they also would be selling kids on ebay......