Newbies wanting info on how to make an income

[weavis]

Many people work at home if they have a job that can allow for it. A colleagues wife who does help desk support, actually uses a SKYPE number which the main switchboard forward to. I have been them on their vessel in Mallorca when calls have come in and she answers on the SKYPE on her cell phone and fixes the problem. As long as she is available to work, the company do not care where she is. She does a 5 hour evening shift and then back to cruising....whilst cruising.

[Hudson Force]

Advances in technology have offered great benefits for cruisers. My daughter and her husband live on a trawler. He used to work in a music studio that housed a large volume of equipment, but now he is able to complete most of his work on board with the advances of micro-chip processors and such. My daughter works in finance and can often complete her tasks at her home computer without driving to an office.

They are not doing any distant cruising now, but they are primed!

[valhalla360]

I see it generally breaking down into 3 catagoriess:
- Work you can do remotely. We continue to both of our jobs (though part time). Before we cruised, we were both in a cubicle. Unless we tell people, they generally have no idea, we are on the boat (engineer & travel agent)
- Stop and work full time for short periods. Ideally if you can tie into a seasonal job, it works best. We've contemplated spending our summers at Mackinac Island as they are always deperate for help in the summer but shut down in the winter. But you can get a job at the local home depot or similar retail job.
- Continous odd jobs. This is probably the hardest. Picking up odd jobs usually means manual labor at low wages.

If you are out of your home country, legality is an issue. Many countries jeolously guard work for thier citizens but some careers that are in short supply have exceptions. You often hear of traveling nurse or teaching english. While you may get away with doing work for cruisers, you are skirting the law and the local competition likely will turn you in if caught.

While it's a wonderful liffestyle that we wouldn't give up, don't expect it to be easy if you aren't set financially before you leave.

[micah719]

A lot will depend I expect on the expected standard of living, and the resourcefulness and determination of the cruiser. Bartering instead of purchasing, bargain-hunting, tinkering, living off the land/sea, and accepting that a first-world lifestyle is a luxury. The way things are going, it may come about that the pauper-cruiser suddenly becomes king compared to wage-slaves in the rut, considering current events in Greece and China.

I certainly am conscious I need to be very thankful that things have gone so well with me; after all, I could have been born in real grinding 3rd world poverty and/or persecution such as North Korea or one of the assorted permanently-festering hellholes in Africa or the Middle East. Ok, I'm not rich and probably never will be, so no megaboat with all the bells & whistles, but still compared with the poorest half of the world I'm quite fortunate and have ample opportunity to safeguard and improve my lot; depending on which yardstick I use to measure progress, of course.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by micah719

A lot will depend I expect on the expected standard of living, and the resourcefulness and determination of the cruiser. Bartering instead of purchasing, bargain-hunting, tinkering, living off the land/sea, and accepting that a first-world lifestyle is a luxury. The way things are going, it may come about that the pauper-cruiser suddenly becomes king compared to wage-slaves in the rut, considering current events in Greece and China.

I certainly am conscious I need to be very thankful that things have gone so well with me; after all, I could have been born in real grinding 3rd world poverty and/or persecution such as North Korea or one of the assorted permanently-festering hellholes in Africa or the Middle East. Ok, I'm not rich and probably never will be, so no megaboat with all the bells & whistles, but still compared with the poorest half of the world I'm quite fortunate and have ample opportunity to safeguard and improve my lot; depending on which yardstick I use to measure progress, of course.

Better to be measured by a yardstick than beaten by it.

[tinkrman69]

Originally Posted by micah719

A lot will depend I expect on the expected standard of living, and the resourcefulness and determination of the cruiser. Bartering instead of purchasing, bargain-hunting, tinkering, living off the land/sea, and accepting that a first-world lifestyle is a luxury. The way things are going, it may come about that the pauper-cruiser suddenly becomes king compared to wage-slaves in the rut, considering current events in Greece and China.

I certainly am conscious I need to be very thankful that things have gone so well with me; after all, I could have been born in real grinding 3rd world poverty and/or persecution such as North Korea or one of the assorted permanently-festering hellholes in Africa or the Middle East. Ok, I'm not rich and probably never will be, so no megaboat with all the bells & whistles, but still compared with the poorest half of the world I'm quite fortunate and have ample opportunity to safeguard and improve my lot; depending on which yardstick I use to measure progress, of course.

yup its all in your perspective. I love my freedom.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Kreef

I would suggest that when you are in port where there are plenty of boats approach the diving companies and ask them if they have any work overload that you can take on temporarily. Often a diver will be looking for a day off and you might be able to fill in for that person.

1.- Many (if not most) marinas now require that hull cleaners carry ship repairer's liability insurance, typically $500,000 to $1,000,000 worth. At least this is the case in California. Further, in some places, hull cleaners are required to obtain a permit from the port (like San Diego) or the state (like Washington) in order to work. It is unlikely that a transient cruiser is going to meet these requirments.

2.- Say you are a store owner. Would you let a stranger who walked in off the street run the cash register while you took a day off and went to the beach? Yeah, me neither. Nor would I let someone I didn't know and hadn't trained dive any of my customer's boats. If I'm a boat owner, I sure as hell hope my hull cleaner wouldn't either.

3.- In foreign countries, the local hull cleaners may well take a very dim view of a gringo coming to their town and trying to take business away from them. In addition, in such a situation it would probably actually be illegal to earn without having the proper visa etc.

Originally Posted by Kreef

I actually have the Californian record (according to one of my ex bosses) still standing 30 years later and that was 23 boats in a day...

Bwhahaahahaha! Right.

[sloopguy]

As long as I have an internet connection I can count on making money creating derivative pricing models. An hour or two a day can easily fetch 1-2K a week trading options.

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by douglasstyle

We are in the process of cashing it all in and getting a boat. What do you do for income on a boat? We will be a family of four. My husband will be going to marine and mechanic school and then we will be off. Any help would be great.

We spent two years building a startup when we purchased our boat, a Liberty 458.

I have gone back to work for a global tech company. This allows me to work anywhere I have internet access. I can also fly to client sites when needed.

You either need cash reserves you can draw on or a profitable business you can run online.

We don't know of many people who earn while they're cruising.





Sent from my SM-N900T using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[hellosailor]

Hudson-
I think you have it right when you split "work" into "working while interrupting cruising" versus "working while cruising". The latter would be very limited. To traditional means such as scrimshaw and macramé, done by whalers while whaling, at least, in between whales, and later sold. And Then the odd jobs in port, which would be interrupting cruising.
The lucky few who are authoring or doing some similar activity might as well just be "Make thousands working from home!" because they are doing things that very few people have the aptitude or fortune to be able to do, regardless of whether they're in a cabin, or a log cabin. Ditto for those who can log in and telecommute. JetBlue was one of the early open adopters of teleworkers, for their customer service reps and reservation agents, but like many companies, they required a landline connection to ensure voice quality.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by monstads

As someone who has followed a number of the "make money while cruising" threads, and now this one, it seems statements like this pop up, and like your post, the is no details or even hints as to how you managed it.

Now, I 100% respect your right to keep your personal details to yourself, but THIS is what I think those of us without the large nest egg , or the luxury of passive income/retirement to draw on want to hear more about. Not "save more", "wait longer", "spend less". Those are all valid approaches, but variations on them have been rehashed a million times. The "started with little, but made more out of it" story hasn't been told much, and when it is, there are precious few details. I just really hope it doesn't ask book down to "smuggled drugs", cause that would suck...

there aren't any free lunches .

[hellosailor]

Is smuggling (drugs, migrants, untaxed rum, whatever) really any different from, say, working for cash without an employment permit, and displacing the local legal labor?


Or taking on cash paying "guests" without having a legitimate charter business set up?


Not really, you're just violating a different law.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Is smuggling (drugs, migrants, untaxed rum, whatever) really any different from, say, working for cash without an employment permit, and displacing the local legal labor?


Or taking on cash paying "guests" without having a legitimate charter business set up?

Of course there is a difference. Smuggling pays better.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by pesarsten

Well, I guess that I am also looking for the same info. I am retired, on a fixed income, and looking to start my cruising life. My one question is how much can a well written and well read website/blog bring in? I would love to have any supplement to my income!


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Written blogging for income is old... the new thing is video blogging on topics using youtube and facebook as your outlet. It works like this... you pick a topic you really have a lot of interest in. It doesn't have to be sailing, it could be on anything you could possibly do a video on while sailing. Then, you make it looks semi pro by doing some basic editing. You allow facebook or youtube to put a short advert or a small pop up on the video and viola'... passive income. The more hits and view you get the more income you make.

The largest income blogger on youtube made 7.4 million USD last year by videotaping himself playing video games.

http://onlineincometeacher.com/money...ey-on-youtube/

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by zboss

Written blogging for income is old... the new thing is video blogging on topics using youtube and facebook as your outlet. It works like this... you pick a topic you really have a lot of interest in. It doesn't have to be sailing, it could be on anything you could possibly do a video on while sailing. Then, you make it looks semi pro by doing some basic editing. You allow facebook or youtube to put a short advert or a small pop up on the video and viola'... passive income. The more hits and view you get the more income you make.

The largest income blogger on youtube made 7.4 million USD last year by videotaping himself playing video games.

How To Make Money With YouTube | Online Income Teacher

Good luck with that approach.