In this year, 2022, there are more Aussies travelling the country in their caravans than ever. Most are saving up the dollars to do the lap, while others selling everything they own. No debts. No worries. Some are working along the way, including various small towns and communities who are screaming out for extra hands. And others have their own businesses, both brick and mortar, and some ?online??
The point what I?m trying to make here, is everyone is doing something so they can experience Australia with their family and live a little less ?stress-free??
That should be all that matters, right?
Kelly, Clayton, Ruby and Chase - The Lotz Family
Sadly, as vast and adventure-minded the travel community can be, they are also very quick to judge and pull each other down about what they?ve got, and how they earn money ?on the road?.
The objective of this blog is to clear things up a little about working around Australia and ultimately just encourage people to live their life and experience their adventures - however they damn well please.
So, let?s rewind a few steps and tell you about us. A little over six years ago, our little family experienced a diagnosis of a life-long illness, debilitating and life-shortening disease when we gave birth to our son, Chase. We certainly dwelled on how this would affect us as a family and how life could change dramatically at any given moment.
We felt like this diagnosis also pushed us into a mechanical survival mode. Get up. Do the jobs. Barely hang on. Survive. Go to bed. Get up. Do it all again. Sounds familiar, right? Regardless of your story.
But this life wasn?t serving us well. Emotionally, we suffered. We spent many days and weeks in hospital with Chase who had Cystic Fibrosis (CF - read a little more about what that means HERE). Not only did he suffer the affects of CF, but was diagnosed with serious CF related liver disease. We were told to prepare for a transplant. Our little boy, so young in life with such a serious outlook.
Life wasn?t working the way we had hoped.
Illness surrounded us. And the feeling of helplessness blanketed us.
Little Chase, diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, changed our life and outlook
So, we decided that enough was enough and we needed to live life a little differently. We bought a van, travelled and spent extensive time on the road. Precious time as a family. We somewhat jumped off 'the hamster wheel? that weighed us down before.
This was all pre-pandemic, so it wasn?t even the ?in - thing? back then. We followed a few travelling families to give us inspiration and just did whatever we could to bring happiness.
It was because our life and emotional well-being depended on it.
We must admit we struggled financially in those few weeks we?d take at a time, with Clayton being a business owner back home, the money doesn?t roll in when we roll out. And me - an employee with only a few weeks annual leave at a time, it was a challenge, so we definitely tried to look for other ways to make it work.
But work can wait. Life can?t.
Fast forward a little further down the road. And we were ?sucked in? to one of those ads on Instagram that opened up an opportunity to have ?work-life? freedom.
Well, if this life we loved so much that not only gave us happiness and health was free, we now had an opportunity to earn $$ from it? ?Where do I sign??? I screamed!
Ok, I was a little harder to convince than that, and I don?t want to harp on too much about the process, but, I saw an opportunity, and it worked for me for more reasons than I even need to explain. It was new and exciting and I didn?t know anyone else doing it. It hasn?t been all sunshine and roses, because it took work.
But let?s create a little checklist before I go any further? here?s the things that got me over the line.
? I could create something that I believed in
? We could be US. Genuine. Trust worthy. Approachable. Sincere. Honest. US!
? Not only was this a way of earning a bit of travel money, but suddenly our eyes opened to a whole new way of living healthy.
? And it was all ME. So if it didn?t work, I only had myself to blame.
Did the whole MLM or pyramid scheme come to mind? Of course it did. ?Is that what this is?? I wondered?
But a little more education and understanding of how it works completely put my mind at ease. In fact, I was living real life ?MLM? anyway with the workplace. My boss was getting richer, while I was doing the legwork.
No. This isn?t an ad, nor am I writing this to ?suck you in? too because as far as I see it, you make your own bed. You?ll do what?s right for you.
Putting all that together, this is a bit hard to explain to a skeptic.
After all, if you know you know. If you don?t know, you learn (if you?re interested). If you?re not interested, you move on and mind your own business.
So, knowing all of that we?ve given it a go. In fact, I can stand up and write a blog about making genuine money on the road BECAUSE WE?VE DONE IT. And at the end of the day, there?s no right or wrong. Whatever works for you and whatever you believe in, you do you (boo!).
What shits me to tears though, is in recent comments from other travelling families is the gloating and disapproval that whatever someone else is doing with online businesses - is WRONG.
Are we all not capable of just living our life and being happy anymore?
Sad thing is - the people who whinge and disapprove about the whole online business thing HAVE ONLINE BUSINESSES THEMSELVES making money from the exact same people they are trying to warn about us!
If you make commissions from sales of products that you promote on your website or social media - YOU HAVE AN ONLINE BUSINESS.
If you run ads all over your website that promote something other than you - YOU HAVE AN ONLINE BUSINESS.
If you monetise through YouTube or other paid subscriptions - YOU guessed it. You?ve got one!
If you?ve bought a Thermi, Tupperware, Norwex or Lorraine Lea, you?ve supported an online business! (Also known as a little family making their own tracks to put food on their table!)
Ok. Probably have become a little sidetracked here, but the point I?m making is - what we have chosen to do to make money while we travel (or whatever is important) is genuine, legit, honest and very possible to make a good sum of money from. The only difference is peoples beliefs surrounding it and what they are willing to believe.
Hands up here. It?s changed our life 100% and I wouldn?t change that for the world.
Am I making a million? Nope.
Is it enough to sustain full time travel for us? Not right now. But, it helped us and got us to where we are now so eases the stress and financial burden!
Have we supplemented it with other ways of making money? Sure we have!!! But show me any business that doesn?t cost a thing to start - nor is an overnight success without the need of some $$ to get it up and running?
It?s a hot topic in travel / caravan Facebook groups at the moment. You?ll see the question, ?how do you fund your trip/big lap?? And then it?s followed by hundreds of comments ?I?ve pm?d you!? The sad thing is, most of these people haven?t funded their trips this way at all. So, yes, that leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But it?s certainly possible and there has been quite a few successful families doing it this way! You wouldn't buy a product without knowing a bit about it, and the same goes for this. Nothing wrong with getting to know the business or product first.
And these people don?t succeed by sending dm?s. They let their happiness and financial success do the talking. The rest comes naturally.
Kelly is also a musician, making money by playing music around Australia
We?ve just returned from a working trip. And let?s just say, outback Australia needs help. From carpentry to barista work, bar work and babysitting. You?d be pretty hard pressed not to find something to do while travelling on the road and if that?s how you want to make your money, go for it! We won?t judge! We?ve done it! In fact, I?ve just done about 60 nights in a row playing live music from the corner of little country bars as a musician.
That?s the bread and butter.
Our online business is the cherry on top.
So whatever you choose to do, do it for you.
This works for us, but there?s a chance it?s not for everyone. Not everyone has what it takes to make it work anyway. If starting an online business yourself, find someone you can connect with and can help you through, because chances are, just because it's worked for someone else, doesn't mean it will for you.
Find an educational platform that can help you, that excites you, inspires you! A community that lifts you! And products that you believe in! That's our advise, and we're grateful for being part of an amazing educational network that we credit our success to.
Side note - don?t just read one person?s opinion that you found on Google, no matter how 'qualified' they may seem. Take a look at PubMed - which has over 34 million citations of biomedical literature to back up health claims. This is your best place to start. So when in doubt, do the research from reputable sources.
Just cut out the noise and follow your own goals.
Families who have found success with online business are genuinely great people. In fact, I credit the work they?ve done on themselves to get where they are to their online business journey. You?ll also find a good chunk of them working with charities along the way and raising thousands of dollars for people in need! We used our online presence and connections to raise nearly $30k last year for Cystic Fibrosis alone and we thank our friends in social media for helping make this happen! Read more about our charity work - here.
But, this is a message to anyone who has the big personalities who feel it is their mission to bring others down in the industry because ?they don?t believe in it? then, please do us a favour and pull back. You?d be far better off warning people about the dangers of being unhappy.
You?ve heard our story now and our experience. We are honest and tell it like it is. No smoke and mirrors. We don?t claim to have funded our lap solely this way. But we are genuinely making a life for ourselves through our online business. We are happier and healthier than ever. And we credit working with Enagic for that.
We?re no better than anyone else. We are genuine people making it work. Because you?re doing something different to us, doesn?t mean what we?re doing is wrong. Because we have an online business, doesn?t mean we?re smashing it in everyone?s faces or dm?ing you creepy messages with a hidden agenda. Because you?ve got a different kind of online business, doesn?t mean we are in competition to you.
There?s enough of this online space to go around.
I just want to encourage the travel community to remember why you started. For us, our family, life, emotional well-being and health depended on it. And we made it work. We have met the most incredible people through our social media outlets, and wouldn?t change a thing. Our mentors in our online business have become more than friends - they?ve become family. We?ve gained more than we could have ever hoped for. We can go to our social media catch-ups and expos and shake the hands and hug the people who?ve supported us with no weird feelings.
Let?s just live life to the fullest and enjoy it.
Live for the moments we can?t put into words!
And side note - our little boy is doing incredibly well. His health is good. And we believe we?ve made a good choice with what we?ve chosen to do in life. It?s serving US well. We are happy.
??
Kelly
Lotzies on Tour