Like every summer, I’m sure you said to yourself, “I can’t believe how quickly it went by.” That statement definitely rang true for Kate and I this summer as well. Honestly, we could say that the last year has just flown by. Specifically, though, the summer just whizzed by for us this year. It seems like it was just yesterday that it was the May 24 weekend and here we are now with fall just around the corner.

The summer for us was probably the busiest we’ve ever had. You’ve probably noticed as we’ve been a bit tardy with the number of blogs we’ve put out this summer. We’ve both been working a few different fun jobs that have taken up a lot of our summer. But we also had some time to have some fun here in Tofino and other parts of Vancouver Island this summer.

So, what exactly have we been up to all summer? Let’s dive in and we’ll tell you some of the highlights…

Whales & Bears, Oh my!

Back in March, Kate’s sister and niece visited Tofino and while they visited we had the opportunity to go whale watching with Jamie’s Whaling Station. While on the boat that morning I made a mental note of how fun it would be to work for one of the many whaling stations in town that specialize in whale & bear tours.

By June, I was indeed working for Jamie’s Whaling Station. While I’ve mostly been working the front desk, taking reservations & checking people in, I also occasionally do get out on the boats as a deckhand. This has been an awesome and rewarding experience.

For the most part, while on the boats we get to see grey whales, seals, sea otters, sea lions, eagles and more. Here’s a fun video of a juvenile grey whaled named Snowflake that got close to our boat during our one trip.

While I had seen grey whales regularly while on the boats, I still had never seen Orcas in the wild. In Tofino & Clayoquot Sound, we only have the Transient Orcas which feed primarily on sea mammals. These orcas travel up to 100 miles a day and only pop up in our area every couple of weeks on average.

One foggy morning, as we were making our way back home after watching some grey whales, I was scanning an area known as the Glory Hole where we commonly see Stellar Sea Lions. This morning, through the fog, I couldn’t see any sea lions, but all of a sudden a massive black dorsal fin appeared near the rocks. My initial thought was, “That is NOT a porpoise.” I followed that thought by running through the cabin of the boat to tell our captain that I spotted the orca. We turned the boat around and proceeded to watch 3 orcas. Here’s the video. It’s not great but nonetheless, it was amazing to see these beautiful whales for the first time.

While I have seen my fair share of whales this summer, Kate and I also went out with Jamie’s on their bear watching tour. The black bears in Clayoquot Sound mainly feed during the summer months at low tide on shellfish like crab. To feed they have to toss rocks to discover their food. It’s quite impressive to watch the bears effortlessly toss the rocks. Have a look for yourself…

Birthday Adventure

As I turned 31, Kate took me away to the other side of Vancouver Island for a couple of trips that featured some outdoor fun.

Little Qualicum Falls was our first stop on the journey. The beautiful provincial park is host to camping and beautiful trails. It’s a great stop to see a mixture of ancient growth forest combined with some beautiful waterfalls.

Later that same day we tried something relatively new to both of us – caving. We’ve both been in caves before but the Horne Lake Caves we visited were quite different. While there are quite a few caves in the area we chose to take a guided tour through one of the smaller cave systems. And when I say small, I mean small in more way than one, specifically how tight the caves were. There were points throughout the experience where anyone bigger than Kate or I would have had a hard time navigating the caves. Even though the caves remain a cool 8 degrees Celsius year-round, Kate did feel a tad claustrophobic at times and even came out of the caves sweating from a small panic attack. It was quite a fun and different adventure for us. We’d like to go back sometime and check out some of the other caves.

The final stop on my birthday tour was to the North Vancouver Island Wildlife Recovery Centre. The centre is home to many animals who have been injured in the wild. Some of these animals are permanently at the centre as their injuries would mean they would likely not survive in the wild if released. There are, however, quite a few animals that are brought into the centre that are rehabilitated and then released again into the wild. We had the opportunity of seeing a lot of beautiful animals, specifically birds up close that we otherwise would likely never have a chance to see that closely.

Viva Las Vegas

For the first time in my life, I recently made my way to Las Vegas to celebrate my father’s 60^th birthday. In Vegas, I met up with my family including my aunt and grandfather. This was my grandfather’s first time flying anywhere so it was quite an experience just watching him throughout the three days we were together. Watching him casually have conversations with escorts that would approach him was a highlight.

Our arrival in Vegas also coincided with the “Big Fight” between Floyd Mayweather and Conor MacGregor. You’d think that Las Vegas would be the best place to watch the fight – not so much. The cost of tickets to the actual fight was a minimum $2700. Tickets to closed circuit viewing parties were $150+. Other than those two options, nowhere else in Vegas could you watch the fight. Rather, by chance, I ended up watching most of the fight with a small crowd gathered around some guys laptop at the hotel bar.

Throughout the trip, I was blown away by how bloody expensive Vegas truly is. A couple of examples. I lost my lens cap for my camera. To replace it I went into the only camera store on the Strip and was offered a replacement cap for $75!!! Insanity. I also unknowingly paid $6 for a small cup of pop at the Bellagio. I’m still a tad bitter about that.

The best Vegas experience we had was on Fremont Street which is essentially old Vegas. It’s a pretty happening spot with live music, zip lining over the street, street performers and more. It’s also the cheaper side of town. We had a steak and lobster dinner for $12.99. Hard to beat that deal.

How We’re Paying the Bills

While I predominately am working at Jamie’s Whaling Station, Kate is working as a guest representative where we live at Crystal Cove Beach Resort. She is learning how the resort operates and is enjoying it immensely. On top of that, we’re getting close to wrapping up our first season running our own business – Tofino Food Tours.

It’s been a fun summer touring guests from all over the world around Tofino. We feed our guests with plenty of food and knowledge about Tofino & Clayoquot Sound and everyone seems to have had an amazing time which is really rewarding.

We’ve also both been using our 30 years of combined radio experience at our local radio station – Tuff City Radio. Since April, we’ve been doing the morning show from 8-10 each morning. It has been fun to get back into radio again, especially since we’re there to simply have fun which is something we weren’t really having anymore when we were let go (thankfully) from our radio positions in 2015.

Bella & Paris Update

While I’m sure you don’t mind reading about what we’ve been up to this summer, I’m sure you’ve really been wondering what’s been going on with Bella & Paris Frances. Both are still loving life here in Tofino. Bella spends some nights at work with Kate. So if you stay at Crystal Cove Beach Resort you could meet our beloved little chocolate lab. When she isn’t at work, Bella loves wandering our world class beaches where she plays happily in tide pools and sniffs the bums of many other dogs that greet her. Here’s Bella playing this summer…

Meanwhile, Paris has become quite a deviant. More so than before believe it or not. She’s again become obsessed with drinking water from the bathroom sink. This sink is directly beside our bed so in the middle of the night she started clawing the bed or even us. This is her way of requesting that we turn the tap on. She would do this routine many times throughout the night. Twice within a week, she jumped on my face in the middle of the night. Once she drew blood from my nose. We’ve since locked her out of our room at night allowing for Kate, Bella and I to have a much more peaceful sleep. Every morning when we open the bedroom door, the little devil is waiting for us. Here she is happily enjoying her running tap…

What’s Next For Us?

Seeing as we’ve now set up Tofino Food Tours, we’ve essentially committed to staying in Tofino for a little while. How long? We’re not sure yet. Knowing that, however, we’ve decided that we will slow down and travel a bit in the fall, winter, and early spring months before another busy summer season hits us next year.

When this tourism season wraps up for Tofino, in mid to late October, we’re going to hit the road. We haven’t got an official plan, but we’re planning a 4 to 6 week long road trip that will see us travel to Washington and from there travel the US 101. The route will have us specifically travelling down the Pacific coastline of the US which looks spectacular in every picture we see.  Since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to go to Astoria, Oregon to see some of the filming locations used in one of my favourite films – The Goonies. Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach is a must and is the only planned part of our itinerary at this point.

Haystack Rock, Oregon (Photo by: Tiger635 via Wikimedia Commons)

This will be one trip where we don’t book things ahead of time and rather go with the flow. We’ve never done this before as I’m a nutcase planner but I’m freeing myself of that for this trip. We’re just going to hit the road and see what happens.

How was your summer? What fun & exciting things did you do? What lays ahead for you in the fall & winter?

The post Adam & Kate’s Summer Wrap Up appeared first on Full Time Canada.

As a kid, I dreamed of being a librarian when I grew up.

Somewhere along the way, I discovered journalism and writing. I loved journalism as much as the library and then as I was deciding what to take in college, I had a guidance counselor tell me that there was a future in journalism and that library jobs were hard to come by. Cuts in libraries were already starting in the early 90’s.

I ended up taking broadcast journalism at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. I was hired immediately out of college to work at CHNR-AM in Simcoe, Ontario. My journalism and radio career had started and would last 20 years.

When I was let go from radio, I read articles about starting a new career in your 40’s. Apparently switching careers in your 40’s is a big deal. I hadn’t really thought of it as a big deal. I just didn’t know what I wanted to really do. I wish I could have a career of drinking tea and reading library books or sampling various chocolates and different food. I wanted to do something that made me happy but something that was also different.

Jobs I’ve Had While Full Time RV’ing.

When Adam proposed to me to live full time in an RV, I immediately said yes. I loved the idea of having a mobile home, travelling & working as we went along. Here are some of the jobs I have had while we have been full-time RVing in Canada: server, cleaner, landscaper, writer & cashier. I also did a bit of Workamping while at Jellystone PEI. That’s all within the last year.

None of these jobs are glamorous but it didn’t matter to me. They paid the bills and leave plenty of time for what matters.

Right now, I am working as a server at a great restaurant in the Tofino. What I love about serving is that you leave the job as soon as the shift is over. I never think about work at home. Over the years, I learned that it was awful to be taking work home with you.

Passive Income

While discussing our future one night, Adam indicated we must find a way to be more financially stable. With our current system, we would move around, find jobs to pay bills and have a little fun but that was it. We knew that system couldn’t last forever. We wanted to make sure we could put away money for retirement, save for a new RV & be able to take other trips.

After 8 months of RVing, we knew we needed to change the plan. We needed a business. More specifically, we needed a business that would give us passive income. Basically, a source of income that would continue to come in even while travelling. But what could we possibly do?

Coming Up With Our Business Idea

Over the course of a month, we debated business ideas but nothing was sticking. Then one day I was driving through Tofino where I saw the Schooner Restaurant. It was that moment that started our business idea. I love this big red restaurant in the middle of town. It screams, “come and eat here.”  You just know that the food is going to be good. Adam and I had eaten there once and it was delicious.

The building is also steeped in history. It used to be a hospital on Long Beach during WWII. Then the building was moved to Tofino, where it was transformed. It was a café for fisherman, loggers, and tourists to the area in 50’s and 60’s. Then in the late 60’s, the Bruce family bought it and continue to run it to this day.

As I drove by and the rain was pelting down on the windshield on a cold November afternoon, I thought to myself that more people should know about the Schooner. Then I started thinking about the other restaurants in Tofino. The food here is incredible for a small town. And get this – there isn’t a single chain restaurant here. No Boston Pizza. No McDonalds. Not even a Tim Hortons. There is a Starbucks at Crystal Cove, but that is it. That’s the only one. When you go into a restaurant here, you don’t know what you will be getting, but you know it will be good, otherwise, it wouldn’t survive.

The historic Schooner Restaurant in Tofino

This is when the idea to start a food tour came to my mind. “We could do that,” I thought to myself. We’ve been on a couple of food tours and we know how to put promotions together. It seemed totally doable. When I proposed my idea to Adam, he immediately said “yes” just as I had to  Full Time RV’ing. Another marriage of sorts for us and another one where no actual rings were exchanged.

We took an online course on how to put together a food tour. We studied other food tours across Canada & the U.S. We took notes and debated every aspect of the business. Now, we are pleased to announce www.tofinofoodtours.com. We’ve just launched the website the other day and are ready to take bookings for this summer.

Sales

The last couple of years that I was in radio, I was trying to learn more about sales. It was a fun process to watch and I had a good teacher. I also started reading books like “How to Make Hot Cold Calls” by Steven Schwartz, “No More Cold Calling” Joanne S. Black, and “The Accidental Salesperson” by Chris Lytle.

All of this helped me approach restaurants to be part of the food tour. You must understand something about Tofino. In the summer, it is a madhouse here. The population swells from 1800 to over 22 thousand in a single day. There are lineups everywhere. To convince businesses to take part, I had to sell me, sell the tour, and sell the benefits of having an extra 20 visitors per day.

I did so successfully partly due to what I had learned from radio and the books I mentioned previously. My confidence in what Adam and I can do together as a team is high. I know we can do this!

The Tour

Right now, we are putting together the tour and making notes on what we want visitors to know. I put a call out to Tofino Mayor Josie Osbourne and asked her to walk with me around town. We talked parking, Tofino life, history, landscapes, and so much more. I want to share my love of this town with the participants of the food tour, while at the same time having them eat some delicious food that is prepared here, sourced locally, and will leave them wanting more.

Walking around Tofino with Mayor Josie Osbourne

What About Our Travels?

Maybe now you’re wondering about how this will affect our full-time RVing lifestyle. We’re happy to say that this new business will not end our travels. Right now we’re thinking that we will explore more of Vancouver Island after Thanksgiving when the tours wrap up for the season. We may also head south for the winter exploring the west coast of the U.S. Full Time Canada will continue as we have no plans of moving out of the RV. This is only going to enhance our lifestyle which is very exciting for us.

Starting A Business In An RV

We constantly are asked by full-time RVer wannabes, “what do you do for a living while full-time RVing?” It’s a fair question. We didn’t exactly know what were going to do for income when we first started either. Through reading lots of RV blogs and various forums, we quickly discovered that starting a business in an RV was possible. So many RVers run businesses out of their RVs. Some are travelling photographers. Others have Etsy stores. Starting a business in an RV is possible and even though we haven’t made any money yet, we’re confident this is the way to go if you’re full-time RVing and still need income.

If you’re looking to change your lifestyle and start to full-time RV definitely think about starting a business. Take your time. Think about it. Plan it out. Definitely, do not rush into a business idea unless you’re confident it can earn you a steady income. Had we rushed into one of our original business ideas who knows what crazy idea we would be writing about right now rather than a food tour. The main thing, though, is to make sure it will be fun and not be a weight in your head, causing crazy amounts of stress. Full-time RVing is about living an alternative lifestyle full of travels & happiness. Stress isn’t welcome in this lifestyle.

How do you earn money while full-time RVing? Have you ever started your own business from your RV?

The post Starting A Business In An RV appeared first on Full Time Canada.

Part of the reason that we decided to choose full-time RVing as a lifestyle choice was because change would always be happening. I’ve always been a person who enjoys change. Whether it’s the change of job or a change of scenery, I get excited for the unknowns of something new. With full-time RVing, the goal for us was to be seeing new places, meeting new people, and having new & fulfilling experiences.

While 2016 was an exciting year full of new places and experiences, I realized that it was just the beginning. Kate & I want to continue this lifestyle for a long time but to do so we have to constantly adjust our plan of how to make the lifestyle sustainable so that the shine never wears off.

Our 2016 Plan

The original plan to full-time RV was a simple one. We would live in certain areas for 3-6 months, work jobs in those areas to earn money, and then travel to a new location and do it all over again. There were two main points of thought behind this plan. First, we wanted to stay in certain areas for 3-6 months because that would allow us to immerse ourselves in an area rather than just being tourists. Second, it meant that we should be able to make enough money to allow us to travel around to some new places (like tourists) before settling on another temporary destination.

So how did that plan work? Pretty good, I think. We stuck to the plan and had a great year. We started full-time RVing at Jellystone PEI in May where we Workamped to pay for our site costs. We also both had jobs for most of the time we were in PEI that allowed us to live comfortably, while also saving up for our cross-Canada trip to Tofino, British Columbia in September. In mid-October, we arrived at Crystal Cove Beach Resort in Tofino, where again, I am Workamping to pay for our site costs.

Our new home at Crystal Cove Beach Resort in Tofino.

The Downside to our 2016 Plan

It’s hard to say there was much of a downside to our 2016 plan because we had so much fun in PEI & Tofino while also enjoying a 10,080km trip across Canada. However, I did recognize a small flaw in our plan. The idea of travelling to a new place and picking up any random job seems rather easy and for the most part, it is, but it’s not ideal.

When we first arrived in PEI and in Tofino, Kate had to find jobs in both locations. She was pretty set on becoming a waitress. The thought was that her hourly wage combined with tips would allow her to make a comfortable living. In both PEI & Tofino, finding jobs took a bit of time, between 2-4 weeks. In PEI, it wasn’t a big deal because I was working a good paying job that could sustain us both. In Tofino, though, aside from Workamping, neither of us was working when we first arrived.

After a couple of weeks in Tofino, although she had applied for many jobs, Kate was finding it difficult to land a job. This caused her stress and made her wonder if we should leave Tofino if she didn’t land a job soon. Thankfully, she got a job at a great restaurant in town, working with some great people and we didn’t have to leave Tofino.

Through both experiences, I realized that this was the flaw in our plan. The stress of finding jobs every time we move is not something I want either of us to go through. This lifestyle, while it has its share of challenges, is meant to be enjoyable and allow us to live a fulfilling life. I became afraid that the stress caused by finding new jobs in a foreign area every time we moved could wear off the lustre of this otherwise amazing lifestyle. This meant we needed to alter our plan.

How to make full-time RVing sustainable

One of the things you must do to succeed at something is to learn and adjust when necessary. It’s fair to say that we learned our fair share about full-time RVing in 2016. Now that we’ve learned, we have to make some adjustments to our plan with the goal of making this lifestyle enjoyable but more importantly – sustainable.

Throughout the last 4 months of 2016, I’ve been trying to brainstorm ways to make our lifestyle more sustainable. In various full-time RVing Facebook groups, there are always people describing how they make a comfortable living to maintain their life on the road. Some RVers set up Etsy shops, others are virtual assistants, while others run their own businesses. With the internet (even if WiFi is a pain sometimes) there is no limit to what can be done from the comfort of our RV.

During those 4 months, I wrote down pages and pages of small business ideas that could allow me to bring in some cash but I never fell in love with any of them. This doesn’t mean that I won’t pursue them later, but for now they’re just ideas in a notebook.

While I had pages of ideas in a notebook, Kate was the one who had the golden ticket idea sitting in the back of her mind.

Tofino – the Land of Opportunity

After living in the small town of Tofino for a couple of months, we both saw the potential for many business opportunities. The town has a small population of 2000 people but tourists have made this small town a bustling location almost year-round. This past summer, Tofino saw over 1-million tourists in just July & August. That’s A LOT of people for such a small town. It also means there’s a lot of potential for the right business idea.

When we arrived in Tofino, we saw various voids (aside from coffee & surf shops) that could be filled and supported by the amount of tourists making their way to the tiny surfing town.

There are plenty of positive vibes going around in Tofino.

The reason that Tofino still lacks in some touristy aspects is because it’s still relatively a new tourist destination. Surfers have been coming here since the 1960’s but only over the past 15 or so years has Tofino seen a jump in tourists. It’s now a world-class resort town with great outdoor adventure, fantastic food, and stunning resorts. The crazy thing is that Tofino isn’t even close to reaching its peak yet.

Recently, Travel & Leisure magazine named Tofino one of the top 50 destinations in the World for 2017. That’s going to put the small town on the radar for a lot of people who didn’t yet know about it. Parks Canada is also giving free entry to all national parks including the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve for all 2017 to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday. Thus, it’s shaping up to be a busy year in Tofino.

Kate’s Business Idea

Knowing the potential that lies here in Tofino, one day a few weeks ago, Kate hit me with her business idea. Instantly, I thought it was perfect and began to see the potential in her idea. To me, it was an idea with endless possibilities that would also make our full-time RV lifestyle more sustainable.

So, what is the idea? Well…I’m not going to tell you. I know, I know – what a tease. It’s not that we don’t want to tell you, it’s just that spreading our idea online is a good way for someone else to snatch it up and possibly act on it quicker than us. It’s leftover paranoia that we have from our days in radio where secret plans with non-disclosure agreements were common.

What I can tell you, though, is that it’s exciting for us. We’re still in the early stages of putting together a plan but everything will likely move quickly. There is, however, some outside variables that may not allow us to continue with this business idea. While we’re hopeful that won’t be the case, we must also be realistic that certain barriers could stand in our way. We don’t think that will be the situation, but you never know.

To me, Kate’s business idea was a great one because it has low start-up costs, low overhead, and can be managed from anywhere even though it will be a Tofino based business.

What We’re Planning for 2017

Over the next couple of months, we’ll be working hard to put this business plan in place. Our goal is to get everything as ready as soon as possible and launch the business somewhere around May. There are still a lot of unknowns that we must look into but this is what we’ll be working towards.

The business plan will also have us staying in Tofino throughout the duration of the summer. Originally, we were going to be in Tofino from October through the end of April before moving on to somewhere new. Instead, we’ll be able to enjoy the hustle & bustle of the busy tourist season in Tofino while also having a great summer in a stunning location.

By the end of September, our hopes are that the business will have had a successful summer. By that time, it’s our goal to have built a solid foundation for sustaining the business in the future before we move on.

What If The Business Fails?

8 out of 10 businesses that are launched are destined to fail. It’s not comforting to know that, but it’s fact. Knowing that, we’re hopeful that based on the low start-up and overhead costs associated with our business idea, that even if the business fails, it’s not going to cost us a lot of money. We’re also hopeful that because of the low costs, the business should be profitable. Even still, it could fail and if it does, we’re not going to be down about it. We can always fall back on the plan we had in 2016 where we move somewhere else and find jobs while working towards another idea. It won’t be ideal, but we’ll still be travelling and enjoying new experiences which is better than our previous 9 to 5 lifestyle.

…And If The Business Succeeds?

If we’re able to launch this business and see it become successful, we’ll be incredibly happy. It will mean that we can more comfortably enjoy the full-time RV lifestyle. It also means that our travel plans can be more flexible because the business will allow us to have a certain amount of passive income while on the road.

If the business is successful, by the time the fall of 2017 rolls around we should be on the move. Because we’re likely to be cemented in Tofino for most of the year up to that point, we’ll be ready to explore. My goal is that we’ll be able to spend 2-3 weeks exploring the rest of Vancouver Island, from Port Hardy to Courtenay to Victoria. We’d like to see as much of the Island as possible.

After that, who knows? We have the thought that with the business being successful, we should have enough money to allow us to travel south and enjoy 4 to 5 months somewhere warm in the U.S.

Bring On 2017

We’ve got a plan for 2017, now we must follow through on it. Like 2016, 2017 is going to be an interesting year filled with adventure and learning opportunities. This is both exciting and scary at the same time. One thing I do know is that Kate & I can’t wait for 2017. Whether our plan is successful or not, we’re sure we won’t be leaving the honeymoon phase of our full-time RV lifestyle anytime soon.

What plans do you have for 2017? Do you have a mobile business or any startup tips you can offer?

The post Our Plan To Make 2017 The Most Exciting Year Yet appeared first on Full Time Canada.

Careers #1-3

After graduating college for radio broadcasting, I worked for almost 10 years in the industry. Throughout that time, I changed jobs and moved 3 times. At first, radio was exciting and fun. However, as time continued, working in radio took its toll on me. It had become and continues to be a 24/7 job – especially if you want to advance and have any chance of making a livable salary. The burn out factor in radio is huge. I know a lot of young broadcasters that worked in the industry only to leave it a couple years later. When I was let go from my job in the spring of 2015 I knew I was done. I didn’t want to be in radio anymore. Career change #4 was on its way.

Career #4 & #5

For about 8 months I worked for a telecommunications company doing data entry. The job was fine and paid the bills but I knew that it wasn’t going to be a career and that I would have to figure out Career #5. It was while working at this job that I determined that being a full-time RVer would be Career #5. Yes – being a full-time RVer doesn’t pay the bills. We still have to work different jobs to maintain this lifestyle. However, when people ask me now, “what do you do?” I answer with, “I full-time RV,” rather than “I work in radio” or something else that has to do with work.

When I tell people that we full-time RV, they have one of two reactions. They either say, “That’s awesome! Good for you,” or they ask, “But how do you make money?” When we first decided to full-time RV we had to decide exactly how we would make money to pay for this amazing lifestyle. The fantastic part about this lifestyle is that it can be done relatively cheaply. Our largest bill at this point is my cell phone bill. Because we don’t constantly move around, we don’t’ have to worry about constantly fueling up a large rig. We also Workamp at Jellystone PEI which takes care of our site fees.

Since our expenses are minimal, we don’t have to stress about having high paying careers to pay for the common expenses that most common households have. This change has really allowed us to escape the stress of an everyday job. We also don’t have to work 40 hours a week if we don’t want to. If we both worked 20 hours a week, we’d be more than OK financially.

What Adam’s Been Doing For Money

It was almost a year ago when both Kate and I really decided that we didn’t want to continue working at our current job for a long period of time. One of the things that we discussed was that we wanted to be back, living closer to the ocean. We talked about moving back to Prince Edward Island after living there from 2010-2012. After deciding that, we both started looking hard and fast for jobs on the Island.

One afternoon, Kate found a good paying job opportunity working for the Government of Canada in Summerside. After she applied, she urged me to apply as well. That was August. By November, we were contacted by email asking us to drive to the Island for testing. After completing the testing, we were notified by mail that we had both tested extremely well. This set up well for us in regards to getting the positions. However, months would pass and we heard nothing and we basically moved on. In fact, that was the time when we actually decided to full-time RV.

Then during the afternoon of February 15^th, many, many months after first applying for the job, I was contacted and a job was offered to me. Then I had to make the decision of whether or not to take it. Of course, we had decided that we were going to be full-time RVing and in doing so, I was unsure if I wanted to work a 40 hour work week. After weighing out the pros and cons, I determined that it would be a good opportunity. Both because it would allow us to save up some money for the journey and it would also be a good addition to the resume should full-time RVing not work out.

On March 29^th, I started working for the Government of Canada. I won’t go into details on what I was exactly doing, but it turned out to be one of the most satisfying jobs I could ever imagine having. I was hired on a contract for just over 3 months and in that 3 months, I learned a lot of different things.

The one thing that I learned working for the Government of Canada is that they have their procedures and you follow them. That’s the job. It’s a black and white world. Sure, there are some open interpretations of the procedures, but for the most part, when I would go to work, I knew exactly what I would be doing from the start of the day until the end of the day. To some, that may sound boring, but I can assure you that after working in radio, it was actually kind of refreshing.

Working in radio is a very gray world; completely the opposite of working for the government. There’s no guidebook on how to do radio. Radio is done differently from station to station and market to market. Once you think you’ve got something figured out, you’re then told that things have changed and to do it differently. There’s also an incredible amount of creativity involved in radio which is a great thing. The downside is that being creative 24/7 can be very exhausting. In addition to that, having creative differences with multiple members of staff can be stressful at times.

The other thing that I really liked about working for the government was that the workload was for the most part completely independent. I ordered work and when it came, I would work on it until it was completed. There was teamwork involved but it was to help each other answer questions rather than coming up with ideas/solutions together. There was never a moment where I would be upset with another co-worker or vice versa. As a group, we got along fantastically and I met some amazing friends while working there. These are friends that can easily be lifelong friends and I only got to know them in the span of 3.5 months. Throughout the 10 years of working in radio, I maybe have a handful of people that I still keep in somewhat regular contact with.

Don’t get me wrong, working in radio was rewarding at times, but working for the government really opened my eyes. Not once did I leave work at the end of the day stressed. Not once did I have to continue working from home. Not once did I have to work on the weekend. Not once did I dream about my job. To me, it was perfect, especially for this new lifestyle of ours that is meant to be as free of stress as often as possible.

What Kate’s Been Doing For Money

The following has been written by Kate

130/78. That’s my latest number. It’s for my blood pressure. The stress that I allowed myself to feel in my former career was slowly killing me. My number used to be 156/95. That was the highest reading I ever had. My head hurt and I could feel a heat in my eyes. I’m not sure if that describes it properly, but that is how it felt. My eyes were actually hot.

I wore a high blood pressure cuff for 24 hours to get properly diagnosed. My highest readings were between 9am and 5pm. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the cause of those high readings. I took a medication that my doctor at the time called “alarming” for someone my age. My doctor actually asked me if I would consider another career. At that time, I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.

130/78 is my number now. I’ve lost some weight. I’m not stressed out. I only take ½ of a blood pressure pill now and by the end of the year, I should be able to get completely off the medication. In the end, it was all because I said goodbye to my 20-year career working in radio.

Like Adam, when we decided to become full-time RVers I had to decide how I would make money to pay for our adventures. The decision was quite an easy one for me. For the past 4 months, I have been working as a server. I started off at a bakery/restaurant working 3 days a week in May. I waited on tables, ran the cash, scooped ice cream, bagged cookies and cinnamon rolls, and cleaned. It was super busy. The money was ok but I did find myself wanting more hours so I started searching for a serving job that offered 5 days a week.

In late spring, I met a woman named Gay Nichols. She had bought a restaurant in Summerside called Sharky’s. She is from England and had previously owned a restaurant in Antigua. I was the first server that Gay hired for her restaurant which was scheduled to open up for the tourist season in June.

When I first started working at Sharky’s (before it opened), Gay had kept trying to get me to do some of the jobs that are considered “management jobs” and I resisted. In my heart, I knew that I didn’t want that added stress. We did work it out that I would schedule the servers and myself and another server would take turns doing the orders for liquor and other supplies. It’s worked out quite well.

The past 4 months have taught me that I do not want a job that I bring home at night. As soon as I walk out the door, I no longer think about work aside from telling Adam about my day. For the past 20 years, I brought my work home with me almost every night. I brought it with me on vacation. I would worry about the slightest email or text. Serving can be stressful at times, but it isn’t a constant source of steady worry. I truly do have fun at my job and I get to meet lots of amazing people. Plus, the money is good, I am learning something every day, and this is a job that I can do anywhere in Canada.

Here is a list of 5 things I love about serving.

• I love when people love their food. I love food, so I feel that I am bonding with the customer when I can see how much they enjoy their food. It’s kind of like when I used to bond with the listeners about music that we both loved.
• I love walking and being active in my workday. I no longer sit for 8 -10 hours a day. Now, I am walking for up to 9 hours a day. This is actually a love/hate issue because my feet kill me at the end of the day but I don’t care because I worked out all day. I’ve lost 15lbs since starting as a server and I still eat a lot of ice cream and Ah Caramels.
• Tips. I think that is pretty self-explanatory.
• When people listen to me rave about a desert and buy it. It’s an up sale win for me and the restaurant. Trust me, though, I never lie about the desert. I love deserts so I make sure I try it before I sell it. For example, on a Sunday afternoon, I sold an entire pan of Raspberry Rhubarb Crisp. I ate a piece for lunch and told every customer that it was a MUST try. Plus, I will warm it up for you and serve it with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
• Helping people. Helping customers find the perfect dish for them on the menu or helping them find their hotel, bringing their pet water out on the deck, or just going the extra mile and having people sincerely thank me is truly rewarding.

What We’ll Do For Money In The Future

The future for us is in Vancouver Island. That much we know. What we’ll do for money is completely up in the air but that’s ok. Starting in September, we’ll start looking at job boards to see if there’s anything interesting worth applying for. Kate will more than likely find a serving position. She’s been told by various customers this summer that she’ll have no problem doing well financially working as a server on Vancouver Island.

As for me, well…I have no idea what I will do and you know what, I’m not at all that worried about it. I could work at a grocery store like I did when I was 15. As long as it gives us some money and doesn’t cause any unnecessary stress, count me in.

In the future, I would love it if one or both of us could become self-sufficient with how we earn money. There are a tremendous amount of ways to make money these days thanks to technology, even if you’re nomads like us. In doing so, this would allow us a lot more flexibility in where we can go on our journey.

Kate’s also been working on a special project of her own. She has written a book which could be a source of future income. However, she hasn’t touched it since we moved to PEI. Her book is in its first draft and she’s actually a bit nervous about sharing it with other people, which I get. I haven’t read the book yet, but I know from what she’s told me, that it could shock some people which is likely why she’s been holding it back a bit.

Amazon

We’re also currently set up as an Amazon Affiliate. Basically, if you see us mention a product that we like anywhere on the website that is linked to Amazon and you purchase that product, we get a small commission from that. We haven’t put a lot of effort into this yet but will be in the future as there are plenty of bloggers who do really well just through Amazon. If you order from Amazon, we’d love it if you’d use our link by clicking here. Bookmark it and use it anytime you order through Amazon and it’ll help continue to fund our adventures which we really, really appreciate.

Here we are at Career #5 – Full-Time RVer. Will we make it to 7 different careers like Ms. Bennington predicted all the way back in that grade 10 Careers class? Time will tell, but for now, it’s hard to imagine wanting to move on from this fantastic but rare career choice.

How many different careers have you had? Do you work from home or the road? If so, what do you do?

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*Disclaimer. Full Time Canada is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. If you purchase something from Amazon, it helps us fund our journey – so thanks, we appreciate it!

The post What We Do For Money appeared first on Full Time Canada.

As soon as we said “no more radio”, we sat down and talked about everything that we wanted out of life. Little did we know that at the time the seeds for Full Time Canada were being planted. Before we could start planning anything, I still felt the need for closure. I had to say goodbye to a part of my life that I had loved for over two decades. At first, I wasn’t sure of how I was going to do this but then I finally decided that it would be easiest just to write a letter to Radio, to let it know how I felt and why I was done with it. It may seem to be a silly exercise, but it really did help get any negative energy out and help to clear my mind.

I didn’t write this to give a middle finger to the industry or those that let me go. I wrote it because I was truly sad to say goodbye. Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives of what used to be a great industry and it was time to move on.

This is what I wrote down in the spring of 2015…

Dear Radio,

You said it was me and let me go because my salary was too big and the ratings weren’t there. But really, it was you.

Gerry Hamill & Kate McCallum with Norfolk County Mayor Dennis Travale

It’s taken me a while to write this. You dumped me on April 23, 2015. I was hurt and desperately trying to understand why you rejected me.

It took some time for me to see how you ate away at my life. I dedicated 20 years to you and in the end, you were actually making me sick. I no longer had any joy to get up in the morning to work for you. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t your listeners that made me sick. The listeners – along with the music- were the only joyous things I had left. No, it was when I made the mistake of wanting to make more money and be a manager. That was the step in the wrong direction for this relationship.

At first, when I was just 20 years old, this relationship was so sexy – so exciting! I had people coming up to me complimenting on my voice and how well I read the news or how I made someone laugh talking about my dog. But that sexiness wore off when you paid me less than minimum wage and paid my male colleagues more than me. When you told me that I would never be news director because I was a woman, it made me want it all the more. And when I got News Director, you punished me Radio. You paid me less than the former male News Directors. But I took it -like so many women still do. I am proud to say I was the first woman News Director in my small hometown.

Meeting the Goo Goo Dolls

I did have fun Radio. Some of the memories make me smile. I remember waving in parades at fans, introducing rock bands on stage and meeting the Prime Minister of Canada. I have many memories of staying overnight at the station during big snowstorms and also trying to help listeners find lost dogs. I also have sad memories. Like 9-11. I was trying not to cry while talking about hundreds of people dying.

I couldn’t avoid what was happening to us over the years. You started cutting staff and you still treated women poorly – typically putting them second on morning shows, as co-hosts and not the show host. Sometimes you wouldn’t give women remote broadcasts for car dealerships. You barely pay staff enough money to live on, and even still women are making less than a lot of men in the same positions in radio.

Radio, I tried to make it work. I went into management and I worked hard. I was promised so much, as long as I was a slave to my phone. I worked all hours of the day. You were the last thing I thought about before I went to bed and the first thing I thought of when I woke up. I got up in the middle of the night for you and drove to the station because you were off the air. I would have done pretty well anything for you because I loved you so much. When I went into management I pretended to care about hockey while sitting around the table with the old boys club. I laughed at your blatant sexist jokes. I looked up to the women who were busting it to get a seat at that table. Then, I heard you make snickering comments behind their back.

Meeting Motley Crue’s – Nikki Sixx at Canadian Music Week

Radio, I can usually no longer listen to you. You have started cheating on me, even more, this year. Where have the local announcers gone? Why am I listening to a recorded voice from British Columbia talk about the Maritimes town I live in? You aren’t fooling anyone. I am turning you off.

It’s unfortunate you are choosing money over talent because the talent is what brings in the money. You know this and choose to ignore it. So many talented people have been let go over the past couple of years. You have so many talented people who are still in the business that are doing 2-3 jobs and you are causing them to get sick. You’re causing them to have high blood pressure and stress and forcing them to walk on eggshells in the workplace because they’re constantly worried they might be next because no one feels safe.
Radio, you have some great people working for you, try to remember that. Treat them well. Stop slowly killing them. The job is supposed to be fun.

Radio, I thank you for dumping me. That’s right, I do! Thank you so much for kicking my ass to the curb.

I am no longer as sick as I was when I was with you. My high blood pressure is better. The armpits of my shirts are no longer soaked in sweat from nerves. I have a life again and I haven’t felt this good in a long time. I don’t regret being with you because you taught me an important lesson. I learned to be resilient.

So, here is what I am doing Radio. I am selling all of my stuff and I took all of my radio mugs and t-shirts and gave them away. I am going on a Canadian adventure. I’m going to work hard, play hard, and not worry anymore about you. We are completely through. I wish you nothing but the best and I hope that one day you will learn that you are not fooling your listeners.

Before I say goodbye for good – Radio, please treat women better. Seriously.

It was fun, but now, it’s time to say goodbye.

Sincerely,

Kate McCallum

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The post Dear Radio: Saying “Goodbye” to My 20-Year Career appeared first on Full Time Canada.

Workamping is a phrase coined by Workamper News in the United States. Basically, Workamping is an exchange of your services (usually 20 hours per week) in exchange for a full hookup RV site. This would mean between Adam & I could split 20 hours of work at the campground each week and have our full hookup site at a campground for FREE!

One of the reasons we really fell in love with the idea of living the full-time RV lifestyle was because we knew it would be affordable in comparison to our lives at the time. We had read some other full-time RV blogs where they shared their monthly expenses. We then made up our own spreadsheet to estimate how much our expenses would be per month. Our results showed that it would probably be close to half of what our normal monthly costs were. One of the big factors in the significant savings was because we were committed to no longer having to pay rent. At our last home, we were paying $850 for rent per month, plus utilities including electricity, satellite, and our internet. Our monthly costs were well over a $1000 each month.

We were very excited to learn that we could essentially save a huge chunk of money every month. This meant that we could use our savings for some really fun experiences. It also meant that we wouldn’t have to commit to jobs that forced us to work 40+ hours a week. We could easily trim back our weekly work schedule to 30 hours or less leaving plenty of time to spend with each other and the pets.

Workamping is very popular in the US. A lot of campgrounds and even State and National Parks offer Workamping opportunities for full-time RVers. However, the situation is much different here in Canada. In the Maritimes, there are maybe only about a handful of campgrounds that offer Workamping. We figured that it’s because the camping season is so short in Canada compared to the US meaning a lot of campgrounds have yet to catch on to Workamping. It’s also possible, that because of the shorter camping season, a lot of campgrounds don’t want to give up a spot to Workampers when they could fill that spot with multiple paying guests in a month. In the United States, there are over a million full-time RVers and more than half are doing some sort of Workamping.

Once we decided that we wanted to begin our full-time RV life in Prince Edward Island, we scoured the internet to see if any were or had previously hired Workampers. Naturally, we found none, which left us a little deflated but not totally discouraged. We figured that if campgrounds on PEI weren’t offering Workamping, that we would offer Workamping to the campgrounds. Both Adam & I searched for campgrounds in PEI and made up lists for campgrounds that we assumed would be great for the full-time RV lifestyle. We then discussed each other’s lists and eliminated some campgrounds leaving 8 campgrounds that we would reach out to.

How We Applied

It was February when we decided to reach out and because the Island was blanketed with snow at that point, we realized the best way at that moment was to contact the parks directly via email and then follow up by telephone within a couple of weeks.

In our emails, we included a photo of ourselves and our dog and we explained our goals with fulltimecanada.ca. We also sent formal resumes with references. Our goal was to let the RV Parks know that:

• we are hardworking
• we want to help their business through promotion on fulltimecanada.ca
• we wanted to promote camping tourism in Prince Edward Island and Canada

Who Responded?

Out of the 8 applications to RV Parks, we had 4 responses. We thought that was pretty good. Technically we had 6 but one was a “we’re sorry we have our staff already this year, however, try us next year,” and we had one “we’re sorry but we don’t offer Workamping.” We were in talks with 4 different RV parks, and that is pretty cool. We then had to sit down and look at what each had to offer.

The Partnership

Here is what we were offered…

Campground A. At this campground we would have an evening washroom cleaning shift in return for site/utilities. They said in total it probably wouldn’t be more than an hour a night, which meant only a 7-hour weekly commitment in exchange for a full hookup site.

Campground B. This campground offered us overnight security jobs in return for a full hook up site. Not once did this seem like something Adam or I would want to do. Having to tell campers to stop having fun is not a job we wanted to do, especially with an overnight shift. Thanks, but no thanks.

Campground C. This campground started to talk to us about some opportunities but then disappeared, never to be heard from again.

Campground D. Here we were offered 20 hours of work per week, split however we pleased, in return for a full hookup site. They said that the hours could be flexible to work around our current work schedules, which was nice. In addition to doing work around the park, we offered to promote the park on our site as well as on social media.

Our First Workamping Job!

After discussing the options with each other, we each picked our clear winner. We decided to go with Campground D! Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park in Borden-Carleton!

What it really boiled down to was Rachel and Jason DeCourcey. When we talked to them on the phone, we knew they would be able to teach us a lot in our first Workamping positions. They are fellow full-time RV’ers so we knew that they would be able to offer us plenty of experience and wisdom in regards to the full-time RV lifestyle. The RV park is fantastic and we know we are going to have so much fun.

Rachel & Jason Decourcey – Our Campground Hosts

If you ever decide to embrace the full-time RV lifestyle yourself and wish to give Workamping a shot, here are some tips we’d like to pass on.

1 . Email the park you want to Workamp for. The worst they can say is “no”. Try to be as friendly, open and honest in your initial email. Put it all out there and wait for the reply.

2. Include a list of your skills along with your resume. Try to think outside the box and include what skills you think would be valuable when Workamping at the campground of your choice. Working in radio for 30 combined years gave us lots of skills, but most were not usable at an RV park, however, we were able to use some like our social media skills.

3. If you don’t get a response from the campground – call them. We had some of our emails not go to the right person. We found that follow-up call usually resulted in us talking to the manager.

4. Try to offer something unique. We realized that having this website along with our social media platforms would be something that we could propose to campgrounds to really get their interest. We figured it would be harder for some campgrounds to turn us down after we offered a lot of promotion. That something unique that you offer could also put you ahead of other Workampers that want that spot at the campground but having nothing unique to offer the campground.

5. Once you come to a Workamping agreement with an RV park, make sure you confirm what is expected of you. This includes:

• how many hours per work you are expected to work
• how many hours per work you are expected to work each week/month
• what duties you are expected to perform
• any additional fees that may previously not have been discussed

6. Don’t take advantage of your hosts. Your campground hosts were kind enough to offer you a spot at their busy campground, so make sure you live up to your end of the agreement and always act friendly & professional.

Ideally, as a way of protecting yourself, it would be wise to get a written agreement outlining all of the details of your agreement.

Even though the process took us a couple of months, we were very happy to secure our relationship with Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park. We feel really comfortable with our choice and know that it’s going to be a fantastic summer on PEI.

If you ever do decide to camp on PEI (highly recommended), check out Jellystone Park in Borden-Carleton. It’s the closest park to the Confederation Bridge and is extremely family friendly. Plus, the park backs right onto the Confederation Trail which is perfect for running, walking or biking. If you do decide to come this summer, send us a message. We’d love to meet you!

***Update – March 2017***

Nearing the completion of our workamping gig at Jellystone PEI, we were on the search for a new workamping position as we were planning on heading to Vancouver Island for the winter. We approached the process similarly to when we were searching for workamping jobs in PEI. We sent out cold emails to a handful of campgrounds and sat and waited for a response.

We had some conversations with a couple of campgrounds that were definitely interested in having us workamp for them but in the end we chose Crystal Cove Beach Resort in Tofino. Similar to our agreement in PEI, we would be doing 20 hours of work in exchange for our campsite. In Tofino, this is a big deal as the costs of RV sites in and around the area are the highest we’ve seen. The main difference in our agreements with Jellystone PEI & Crystal Cove Beach Resort was the type of work that would be done.

In PEI, we primarily did basic campground maintenance where in Tofino, Crystal Cove Beach Resort had us come in to help with their online marketing – specifically social media. This was right up our alley as social media is something we have used a lot previously in radio and also with this website.

We learned that it’s a good idea to list all of your skills, no matter what they are when applying for workamping jobs. You just never know what a campground might need help with.

Workamping Links

Workamper News | The leader in online postings for Workamping jobs, however, you must pay to post and see listings.

Happy Vagabonds | If you’re a Canadian looking to Workamp, this seems to be the best available source for you online. There are plenty of listings, however, not all of them are RV related but often very similar.

RV.net Open Roads Forum | RV.net is a very popular site for RVers to ask/answer questions about RVing. They have a specific forum just for Workamping where you see position postings and ask any questions you may have.

KOA | One of the most popular campground chains in North America has fully embraced Workamping. They charge a $35 annual fee to be a part of their Workamping program but they do offer some very good incentives, especially if you regularly camp at KOA.

Workers On Wheels | If you’re not open to having to pay to look for jobs on sites like Workamper News, this is the site for you. Workers On Wheels has a tremendous amount of job postings on their site, however, most are US based.

If you are a Workamper in Canada, let us know where you’re Workamping and how you ended up with the job. Let us know of any tips you discovered when trying to find a Workamping job. Comment Below.

The post Workamping in Canada: How to Save Big Money Each Month appeared first on Full Time Canada.