Our next guest blog post in our workamping series comes from Jerry & Kimberly Peterson of Hit the Road JACK. They have written many great reviews here on RVParking.com.How Proactive of a Workamper Are You?
Do you find and work the jobs that you love to do or are you just taking whatever comes along? The choice and decisions are entirely up to you, nobody can make it happen but you.
Are you ready to begin working where and for who you want? If so, then read on and learn how to become proactive in your search.
We first heard of a webinar at Workamper News but had never attended one, that was until we were contacted by Jaimie Hall Bruzenak, co-author of RV Lifestyles and asked if we would be guests on her webinar about "The Proactive Workamper". Jaimie had interviewed us in our first year out here living this lifestyle and we have been following each other ever since. We have always felt comfortable interviewing with her and since we always love trying new adventures, we welcomed this one.
Proactive is a word that describes us very accurately, especially when it comes to finding work for ourselves. Our goal has always been to travel extensively, finding short term job assignments to pay our way, but not tie us into any long term jobs. Much of the work offered in this lifestyle is for longer periods of time then we are interested in doing, so in order for us to live our dream in this lifestyle, we had to get creative and very proactive.
We do not wait for jobs to come to us, we network all the time. If we want to go to a certain area, we will research the area and find places that may need short term help. We contact them and offer our expertise services, whatever they need. We have learned that we can do just about anything for a short term period and since it is so short, we have a blast doing it.
Our motto has always been, “If we are not having fun, we won’t even consider doing it.”
Finding work is always at the back of our minds, so during conversations or research on the internet, if we find a place that sounds interesting, we will copy the information and put it in our file for future research. This has helped us get several jobs.
Cold calling places is not hard for us to do, the worst thing that can happen is they say, “No”, then we just move on to the next. We are constantly sending our resume out to prospective employers that have kept us on file and quite a few have called us months afterward. Some have worked out and others the timing was off but we continue to keep in contact. We never burn our bridges, since we don’t know when we might want to return or if possibly that person may give our information to another employer which could work out for us.
For more tips on how to become proactive in your search for Workamping, view the recording by going to http://www.workamper.com/education and click on RV Lifestyles - Jaimie Hall Bruzenak and find The Proactive Workamper webinar.
Feel free to contact us by email or check out our blog, we love answering questions and helping others find their creativeness in this lifestyle
OUR BIO
The first time we discussed our dreams was shortly after we were married. The dreams that lied deep within that we hardly shared with anyone, because they were so bizarre that we were almost embarrassed to tell another person. But, we had always been able to share our heart’s desires with one another, so we did.
We spoke about traveling around in a RV, taking photos, writing our stories and having them published. We finished each others sentences, we shared what we had kept inside ourselves since we were very young but the stories matched. Even though we knew we had to do this once and for all we once again met up with too many obstacles and put it on hold for another 6 years while a life that we thought would make us happy continued on.
Then, the turning point in our lives happened when my baby brother at an early age of 40 passed away, leaving behind many of his dreams unfulfilled. During those last moments of his life, we shared some deep secrets with one another and he made me promise to get on with my life and to follow my own dreams, never again allowing anyone or anything to stand in the way. This began a year of research, finding opportunities to make a living while traveling the country.
We travel, main highways, country roads and many of the roads less traveled. We either work or are spectators at many of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, eventually accomplishing every track on the circuit with a photograph of each of us in front of the race track sign. We also play a little game of achieving a photo of every state line we pass, but we have to do this in action, while driving, no stopping and taking the easy way out. If we miss one, we then know that we will need to take another trip someday through that state.
One of our favorite things to do is to stay, play then review the popular sightseeing locations, as well as many of the small “mom & pop” businesses and share this unbiased opinion with our many readers. Living this lifestyle has allowed us in just a few short years to visit, the Grand Canyon, Mall of America, Mount Rushmore, Niagara Falls, Gateway Arch, Soo Locks, and so many more then we ever imagined we would ever see. Doing this all on such a small budget that our readers are able to see themselves doing it too is also another benefit we share.
At times we each must travel many miles in the opposite direction to get ourselves on course once again but knowing our home is in our hearts at all times makes the travel easier. Our home is also right where we are at that very moment living our dream, traveling this wonderful country, taking photos and sharing our stories with our readers. Come join us and see where our journey leads us, our plans often change as we learn to live our lives from a much deeper place deep within ourselves.
