“Travel. As much as you can. As far as you can. As long as you can. Life’s not meant to be lived in one place.”

I hope you like this post. I would also like to ask you to read it all the way through, because at the end, I’m asking some questions to get you involved.

Most of you know that one of my passions is traveling. I must confess I am a wanderer at heart. My folks moved a lot when I was a youngster; I went to 9 different schools while growing up. That might freak out a lot of people, but I looked at each one as a new adventure. After School, I joined the U.S. Air Force and had the good fortune to travel to many different countries around the world. After my Air Force commitment was completed, I entered the corporate world and had the good fortune to again, travel internationally. When I retired from the corporate world and then my own business, I continued my love of travel and made several trips to South America. I’m now working on my bucket-list which includes curtailing International travel and traveling more domestically.

In this regard, I recently purchased a van and converted it into a camper and will be hitting the backroads and dirt roads of America very soon. No calendar, no clock, no schedules and no worries! The only thing for certain is I’ll be following the sun as I wander around this great country searching out state and National Parks and other things and places of interest. Even driving to Alaska is on my radar. Hey, I’ve got a bucket-list to complete.

Some of my friends have asked me how one funds such an undertaking.

In addition to my retirement funds, I buy and sell goods on eBay and Amazon plus, I have my own Shopify Store. In the last few years, I’ve done a lot of research and learned a lot about making money on these platforms.

And then I hear, “you’re traveling, how do you find goods to sell while traveling?” “How do you ship it?” “How do you get paid?” Good questions.

Flea Markets: Most people go to flea markets to look for a needed item or just while away time while browsing. I go to flea markets to see what I can pick up for a couple of bucks and then flip it on eBay or Amazon for 80-100 bucks.

Retail Arbitrage: Another excellent way to make money which is quite easy and takes very little time to see the money coming in.

With all the research I’ve done, I could probably write a book on this subject. Now there’s an idea for yet another stream of income! In fact I have one book on Amazon’s Kindle now, but it’s related to my former profession as a Private Investigator.

UPS Stores: Are an online seller’s best friend. Look around; you’ll find UPS Stores in every town and city across this great country. UPS is a major shipping partner of Amazon and since I am a PRO Seller on Amazon, I get to take advantage of Amazon’s UPS rates which are very cheap compared to other logistic companies such as FedEx, DHL or the US Postal Service. I can buy items, take them to a UPS Store and box and ship to Amazon using Amazon’s FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) program.

Amazon FBA: Amazon receives my packages; lists my items on their platform, sells them, ships them, and handles all the customer service including any returns. They then deduct their fees and electronically deposit proceeds directly to my bank account. All this makes selling on Amazon’s platform while traveling a breeze.

Walmart: Has a program similar to Amazon’s FBA Program wherein Walmart is now letting individuals sell goods on their platform.

eBay: It works differently with eBay than Amazon. With eBay, the seller has to take photos of their items, upload them and then list items on eBay’s website. When a sale is made, payment is made directly to seller’s PayPal account. So, a PayPal account is necessary. Seller then packages items and ships to buyer. Selling on eBay while traveling can be somewhat of a pain. eBay requires that seller ships sold items in a timely manner, usually within 2-3 days. Obviously, if traveling and selling on eBay, you would have to carry listed items with you or have someone perform this task for you. Otherwise, you would have to shut your account down while away from your home or office. I have met several people that are retired and travel the country in large motor homes which have ample space to carry items with them.

Merch by Amazon: Another stream of income (and becoming a favorite) is Amazon’s (fairly) new program called – Merch by Amazon.

Merch by Amazon affords one the opportunity to sell “print on demand” T-Shirts on their platform. This is an awesome program where one can sell T-Shirts with no upfront money. You could easily start a business with this model. You simply upload a T-Shirt design and Amazon does the rest. No cost at all to the seller. Your shirt will be printed and shipped usually within a day or so of receiving an order. Not only that, but Prime shipping is free! Amazon has made a significant investment in printing machines which cost something like $500K each and they have several. And, Amazon lets us use their machines at no cost to print and sell T-Shirts. You set your own price as to what you want to sell the shirts for. The only stipulation to pricing is that you make at least 1 cent profit. Therefore, if you were so inclined, you could design and sell shirts to groups such as Little League, churches, organizations, companies, fund raisers, etc. for just a penny over cost. This can be a single shirt or multiple shirts. What a great way this is to design and sell shirts.

Because of my love of “wandering”, camping and traveling, I have taken advantage of this program and have recently begun selling T-Shirts on Amazon’s Merch by Amazon platform. The designs I have submitted thus far are based on a theme of wandering, traveling, vans, van dwelling and camping.

** I don’t think the links below are clickable, so please copy and paste the links into your browser to view the shirts I have listed. You can also go to www.amazon.com and in the search bar type: wandering but not lost tshirts. That should bring up the shirts that I have listed so far.

Following are my links:

Wandering Van Dweller T-Shirt
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XQ5LSL8

Wandering Boy Pulling Toy Van
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y3RCFKD

Camping T-Shirt
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XXZCS6G

Wandering Mountain Climber T-Shirt
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XQBJPC9

I would be thrilled if you would visit my Shopify Store also and “Like & Share” it. Here’s the link: www.hiellie.com

And, while we’re at it, I would also greatly appreciate a “Like and Share” on my Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/hiellieoutdoors

By the way, I am in the process of setting up a YouTube Channel for uploading videos to while traveling. Once it’s up and I’m on the road, I’ll alert you as to how to check out my videos. And of course, I’ll be posting on my blog as well at: www.wanderingwithbill.com

Now that you know what my plans are, I would like to ask this: Have you ever undertaken such an adventure? If so, please feel free to pass along any comments / suggestions in comment section or email me at: www.billjones411.com to include:

• Ideas for a new header photo for my blog.
• Places / things you might think I would enjoy visiting.
• Topics for YouTube Videos.

I sincerely thank you and…  stay tuned!
bj