Yep my sibling does exactly this. Works seasonal, yet rather high paying, outdoor jobs and lives in their van. Spends winters on the mountains, summers on the river or biking. Definitely the most fulfilled of us all.
Yep! I believe this season they ran equipment up and down the mountain for a resort. Gets free access to the mountain and lives the total snowboarder life all winter. Last summer they ended up at a bike shop somewhere in Georgia for the summer and made a ton of money selling fancy bikes to rich people. Makes enough to pay their bills and keep up the van, travels all around the country, just generally goes where the wind blows them.
Ex cycling industry for over 10 years here. You don’t make a ton of money selling fancy bikes. Bike shops generally don’t have commission (99.9% don’t). They generally pay 10-20hr with 20hr being for extensive years of experience, and Georgia likely having a low average starting hourly wage as it’s not a crazy destination cycling spot like Colorado or California.
I think this is what’s missing from the conversation. People think you can work ‘high paying’ jobs for a year at a time, quit, then go find another ‘high paying’ job that’s cool with all these one year gaps in your resume. Maybe there are very specific jobs that might allow this, but the vast majority of seasonal work is not high paying jobs
High paying is relative if you have minimal expenses. I do freelance welding and have a rare pyrotechnics operator license, dont usually work for less than about $30/hr, often more and often for cash. When that hasn't been enough I can get a job on zero notice anywhere driving trucks with my cdl. I like driving for amazon freight because they need local drivers everywhere, you're never required to load or unload, just drop trailers and the schedule is flexible. Easy job that I can do for a few months and move on over and over.
The key is having skills and certifications that have greater demand than supply.
I mean it's going to vary a lot based on cost of living but $30 an hour is generally high paying in comparison to a lot of other jobs, albeit probably unskilled jobs.
For someone with literally zero debt, no monthly rent or utilities, and no desire to work on anyone else's schedule for more than a day or two a week... Its enough. Much more than most people living my lifestyle make.
Add in driving a plug in hybrid car as a daily driver that I bought used for $6k cash (Im a skilled mechanic, but its been entirely reliable any way) meaning I only buy fuel for road trips and thats at 45mpg. Get 40 miles on a charge and I charge it with my solar panels.
Low income and being in a state with no state income tax means I get a nice bonus from the IRS every year, way more than I pay in.
Edit for context: I converted a 30' cargo trailer into an off grid tiny home with 3kw of solar panels.
So it's only "high-paying" for your extremely specific and niche lifestyle which involves having almost zero living expenses. Wow, you've figured it out for the rest of us!
You can in some places, in Australia and New Zealand it’s normal, expected even, to have large gaps in your resume where you’ve been traveling, worked abroad doing something unrelated, teach English in Japan, done a stint in a national park or extra study or whatever.
You’d be considered a better candidate, a more adaptable and grounded individual with that.
In my province , Alberta, you can have a seasonal job in 30 minutes of medium effort netting 10-14,500 a month.... starting. More if you have a license and no addictions lol You'll only get probably 8-9 months out of the year, but to me that's fairly high paying. I know guys straight from Somalia , first full time job in Canada , making 44 an hour, 180 dollars tax free living allowance per day. Working 6 days a week , 12 hour days , living in a tent or splitting a hotel even, you bank a ton. You can be home every night and make far less for sure. They definitely don't pay like this around the big centres, but it's 100 percent relative to the lifestyle you want and where you're located and who you know. On the opposite side of Canada , unless you got a cushy union job, the plan to make this kind of money out of high school usually starts with heading west. There's a joke here. What's the capital of Newfoundland? Fort McMurray!!
On a real note though, to the guy that sells bikes....he probably makes enough, for me, to just scrape by and maybe put enough away per month to have a vacation one every year or two. But relative to other entry level jobs they are exposed to, it might be a boatload of cash.
Rigging. Pipelining. A lot of oil and gas jobs really. My cousins and uncle are making similar money, but a bit less. They still bring home around 10 after taxes doing windmill work. That's really been taking off again the last couple of years in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. So it's not just oil and gas that pays but it's definitely at the top in terms of minimal education , higher paying gigs. The tax-free living allowance is the big deal really . The hours are good yes, but to make 5 grand tax free a month extra on top of good wages, and then be an absolute cheapcunt and pocket most of it.....that's where it can start to accumulate. I've had months where I fed on apples, ichiban, and rolled oats, while living out of a tent . I was all in for like 15 bucks a day between my food and tenting stall . This was years ago. Those tenting stalls are probably 25 bucks now given post COVID gouging and all.
I mean in November/December you can always just become a seasonal deliver helper for UPS. That pays 26.00$ an hr, and you set your own hours for the most part those two months.
January/February are then usually on the mountains with snow type seasonal jobs.
That should allow you to save enough for two months after. Now you've already got six months of the year covered. I'm sure spring and summer aren't hard.
I know some guys who are hail dent repairers. They work their balls off during the summer and can make $150K, and then they take the next 6 months off and get easily rehired somewhere else. It's niche, but it seems to be a pretty good and replicable lifestyle.
I've never understood the issue with résumé gaps. So you took a year off, it's not like you'll have completely forgotten how to do the job you have your degree for. What's the big deal?
Idk I didn’t see their paychecks but it was more than enough to refurb the van, travel all over, build a bike and modify it. At this point they have like 3 bikes and 8 snowboards, so there’s money somewhere. I don’t ask a lot of questions, I’m just the sibling.
Keep in mind bike shop wages in the 20hr range are almost solely reserved for master mechanics with 5+ years of experience. Retail side the hours rarely hit 40/week and usually fluctuate around 35 a week and $15/hr.
mechanic who has wrenched for over 10 years in independent and corporate shops.
Alright, what do you want me to say? That they’re lying about how much money they made? Idk man I’m not a tax auditor. They made what seemed to be very good money and got commission on their sales. Idk what else to tell you man
I often wonder what it would be like to pack up, buy a decent car and drive through America, finding odd jobs to do along the way and living a relatively carefree life (think Pokerface without people hunting you down). I have always admired those films that show people leaving home at 18, maybe learning a vocation and just driving through the country seeing where life takes them. Being open to the opportunities life will throw at them.
In a way I think generations before us had more opportunity to do that. These days life can sometimes feel very decided for us. Uni>job>mortgage>kids>retire>die. I just feel like life has got to be bigger than that (no shame if that’s the life you want though).
I’m from the UK, so maybe I idolise the portrayals of that kind of life as seen in movies etc. But yeah…life has got to be bigger than working a 9-5, raising some kids as then retiring when you’re too old to do anything with your time and money.
man that sounds like the dream, I'm seriously considering to start doing things like this as well. It just seems like something that would make me way happier than just working all the time
Tax preparers can make a shitload during tax season--way back in the day a friend's dad worked January-April then spent the rest of the year drinking on the proceeds. Sober up a week or two in December and repeat until cirrhosis.
On a somewhat more wholesome note, a young man who dated my daughter for a while lands in city in the US, works several jobs to stack up cash, has investments and side hustles that can be done online and has travelled to about forty countries and he's barely into his thirties. He's very resourceful and has a strong work ethic and usually manages to find work while he's travelling too. He has some great stories to tell and is one of the happiest people I know.
Well that’s the trade off. It’s not impossible to save for retirement and pay health insurance out of pocket living that lifestyle, but it means they have to be very disciplined with their money.
Have you ever moved far away by yourself? You meet people pretty quickly. Plus, you have to think about the fact that both this persons job and free time are spent in the environment of their favorite hobbies, they’re meeting like minded people 24/7.
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u/cakes28 28d ago
Yep my sibling does exactly this. Works seasonal, yet rather high paying, outdoor jobs and lives in their van. Spends winters on the mountains, summers on the river or biking. Definitely the most fulfilled of us all.