A large part of our Livin’ Lightly plan was paying off debt, building an emergency fund and investing in a business that would allow us to pay our meager bills, travel, explore and spend time with family.
The investment in our business did not have the return we expected which left us vulnerable, tapping into our emergency fund and scrambling to generate an income to meet our expenses. The fact that we did not have any debt and our expenses are pretty low meant we had lots of options. (Worst case scenario I could deliver pizzas part-time or pick-up some odd jobs and nearly meet our expenses.)
We spent 6-months pivoting, retooling and cobbling together an income that meets our expenses and has the potential to do much more. Here’s what we do…
Income Portfolio
WEBSITE: TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS
The majority of our income comes from teacherspayteachers.com (TPT). TPT is a site that allows teachers to sell their lessons, activities and crafts to other teachers. Shae taught first & second for 7yrs pre-mommyhood and used TPT for crafts & activities in her classroom. She dabbled with selling over the years and would be giddy over making a $.90 sale. After leaving her job she started to get more serious about creating products. After we saw the potential of TPT we started working together to create lessons. Shae does most of the hard work but I help her with the sketches, template design and brainstorming lesson ideas.
HOW YOU MAKE MONEY?
We create and sell digital products.
WHAT KIND OF WORK?
Planning curriculum & crafts, drafting templates, page layout, content marketing, uploading products and answering questions.
HOW MUCH TIME?
Smaller lessons and crafts take 15-20hrs and larger units can take 30hrs+. Once a lesson is made it can be pretty passive…maybe 2-4hrs per week answering questions and promoting on pinterest.
HOW MUCH MULAH?
Anywhere from: $1k-5k per month
NOTES
TPT has proven to work – so we are primarily focusing our time and energy on coming up with new lessons. Checkout Shaes TPT Store! Get started selling on TPT!
WEBSITE: VEGGIE MEAL-MAKER
VMM is a plant based whole food meal planning resource where we offer recipes, articles and meal plans.
HOW YOU MAKE MONEY?
We sell meal plans plus have affiliate links for a menu planning service & other products.
WHAT KIND OF WORK?
Creating new recipes, taking pictures of food, shooting & editing videos,marketing, and some live events.
HOW MUCH TIME?
When we are working on a specific project (like prepping for a live event) or a new product it can very time intensive. But between projects it’s pretty low key.
HOW MUCH MULAH?
$150-1200/month
NOTES
We are currently in a transition with Veggie Meal-Maker…in the past I have been focused on how to generate income. Now we are trying to get at the heart of what our demographic needs – then do our best to meet those needs and build an audience. So, right now we are not too worried about income from this site.
CONTRACT WORK: OUTDOOR SCHOOL
Every Spring & Fall I spend 6-weeks planning, organizing and facilitating an Outdoor Education program for 5-8th grade students. Schools come for a week to explore, learn and fellowship with other students from surrounding states. Outdoor School is the one part of our income that is not online. Connecting with kids and sharing my love for creation is one of my passions and while Outdoor School is a ton of work – I love it!
HOW YOU MAKE MONEY?
I get a salary for every week I facilitate.
WHAT KIND OF WORK?
Scheduling, planning, curriculum, teaching classes, registering schools, hiring & training staff, facilitating groups, crowd control, supervising children, discipline issues, parental issues…
HOW MUCH TIME?
60-80hrs/wk
HOW MUCH MULAH?
I average about $25hr.
NOTES
While Outdoor School is very intense and often times stressful I am really passionate about what happens at camp. That said I would NOT want to do something like this full-time. While your work life is important – it’s not your whole life!
NICHE SITE: TINYWOODSTOVE.com
We are starting to dabble with niche sites which are basically information sites about any given niche. There are various ways you can monetize a niche site and we are not worried about that yet. Content is king so we are first compiling a useful resource.
HOW YOU MAKE MONEY?
Ad Placement, Affiliate Links, Product Sales
WHAT KIND OF WORK?
Research, writing, SEO, photo editing, basic WordPress development, promotion.
HOW MUCH TIME?
I spend about 2hrs/wk right now.
HOW MUCH MULAH?
Zero right now. (Hosting and the domain name are costing us)
NOTES
Depending on how this Site does we have several other domains purchased on topics we are interested in. If youd like to learn more about niche sites checkout Pat Flynn’s Niche Site Dual
I love how industrious you guys are! Hope to meet you on the road!
Thanks Leigh! That would be fun!
Oh! I’ve never heard of the TPT site! I need to make a mental note of that. My husband is about to graduate with his degree in teaching- tech ed. And we were trying to come up with ways to make money with that on the road but didnt know of anything.
I sell on eBay, or at least I did before my baby started refusing to let me sit on the computer for more than a moment or two. The trouble with eBay though is that its very space intensive, that is to say, I dont think I can do from an RV, but you never know. I know drop shipping is an option on eBay.
Check out TPT!
You could also checkout Amazon…they have a fulfillment solution where they take care of the shipping. This may be a good option when you are in your RV.
Cheers!