As most of our readers have figured out, we're neither of retirement age or independently wealthy, so making a living is critical to our staying on the road. Heck, making a living is critical if we were to stay in one place as well!
Our current workamping plans pay the bills, but without any room for emergency expenses or many extras, so as we get settled into more of a routine we find ourselves considering options. I would love to find a way to combine my previous consulting career with the mobile rv lifestyle. A couple of thoughts have crossed my mind and I wonder what you more experienced folks think...
I spent most of my career working with organizations to help them be more effective and profitable. I've worked with training people, improving processes to eliminate mistakes and reduce costs and improve customer relationships/satisfaction.
One of the things I'm wondering is if there would be a market for a business consultant who specializes in campgrounds/rv parks. The idea has really begun to percolate while we have been here in Branson. When we got to this park it was pretty much in shambles. No processes, no systems.... Heck... no staff! For a small investment in computer equipment and software, I was able to set things up in about a week and bring the park into the 21st century. We now have a website, facebook page, and twitter account. Things are linked to make them easy to maintain and update for the next folks. I've also documented most all the "how to's" in the office so no one has to figure things out. Now there is a way to track how much business they have and gather feedback from customers. Customers who have been coming here for decades have been complimentary. They don't necessarily like some changes (a little rate increase) but understand that it's needed to improve the park overall. It all depends on how you deliver the message I guess. So wondering if other parks would be interested in hiring a fulltime RVer for a week or month to come in, assess their situation, suggest opportunities for improvement and implement changes that work within their budget.
The other thought I keep having is sort of along the lines of a substitute teacher, only for Organization Development/Training Departments in corporations. Say you have a training manager who is going out on medical leave. They will be out for 2 months. You need to keep things going in their absence, but you can't hire a replacement per say. What if there were someone who could come in on a contract basis, keep things going and then be happy to move on when your regular person comes back?
Just random thoughts...
Maybe Texas Yellow Rose can help you out. I sure don't know anything about earning a living on the road...
ReplyDeleteIn my working days, I was manager for a small OD department. We normally coordinated our work so that if anyone was out for any reason, our department could function as usual. On occasion, there where needs for contract trainers but they were normally supplied by product vendor.
ReplyDeleteIf you are interested in contract training work, then perhaps I would recommend contacting the local chapter of ASTD American Society for Training and Development. Thru them, you can network with other OD and training managers.
If you need additional feedback on any of these ideas, please let me know. Feel free to contact me via or blog or on FB.
Best wishes for success.
Secondly, contact the local junior colleges. Most will have a group that specializes on business development and would love to have you on their staff as an adjunct. You should be able to set your terms. I contracted with Del MAr college in Corpus Christi for a 330 hour training program. They still call me today want to know when I was coming back to Corpus Christi.
Betty aka Texas Yellow Rose can certainly give you details about her employer. Rolltop requires longer commitments than you may be will to do but it is a paying position.
Howard/Lynda Payne from RV-Dreams-.com can tell you about other options related to campground consulting. I believe they have done that in their travels.
Weird paragraph order. I must of been sleeping when I typed that.
ReplyDeleteThank guys...Sometimes I think I'm just in the "thinking outloud" phase in the blog. LOL
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked for Motorola I ran a training department so I'm pretty familiar with the contract training stuff from the hiring side. I also did some adjunct work with Texas State University. I hadn't thought about that, but it might be a good thought if I know where we're going to be. Or maybe a good start for a winter position someplace warm!
Lots to think about...
In my pre-retirment life, I was an Human Resource Professional. As Jerry said, belonging to ASTD would be a good suggestion. Another organization is the Society for Human Resource Management. To be frank, in my personal experience if I needed someone for training I would look to someone in my local network.
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