Do you love traveling long distances? But would you like to get rid of airways, buses, trains, and other public transportation options?

Then traveling across the United States in your own car could be a great way to see and explore the hidden gems of North America.

While driving across the country in your own vehicle can be costly, there are many ways car owners like you can earn some extra money along the way to cover the costs.

This article will show you how to turn your road trip into a profitable vacation.

1 get paid to drive RV across country

When driving a car across the country, you don’t have a lot of space for other activities than driving.

Thus doing a long-distance drive from the west coast to the east coast in an RV would be awesome.

Believe it or not, you can get paid to bring your family on vacation while driving an RV to its final destination.

The best way to find an RV to drive is through the platform Imoova.

This platform helps you find the best RV based on your requirements such as city drop-off, number of passengers, and RV type.

The best part is that the platform is not limited to the United States, but it also operates in Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the UK.

Generally speaking, you pay around $1 to $10 a night when you are on the road, but more often than not, you’ll be compensated with a fuel budget and travel allowance, resulting in your coming out positive when the trip has reached its end.

Furthermore, you also save money on accommodation since you are traveling in an RV.

If that wasn’t enough, traveling in an RV also makes room for working a lot of online jobs on the way (Read about the best ways to make money on the road here).

2 Be a mover while driving across the country

Have you ever worked as a warehouse employee? Or are you using most of your time in the heavy-weight section at your local gym?

Then moving people’s furniture and other stuff into new homes shouldn’t be much of a struggle for you.

Helping people move is a great idea to make some additional money along the way. Consider posting your moving services on platforms like Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist.

If you don’t want to post your own services, you can try joining a moving company as an independent contractor.

As long as you are at least 18 years of age, the requirements are uncomplicated.

You’ll need a valid driver’s license, and being in great physical condition is alpha omega since you need to move heavy objects from a to b.

When doing a job like this, do your due diligence when it comes to insurance coverage because you are moving other people’s valuables.
On average you should expect to earn an average hourly rate of $12 to $25.

To get started, a great option is to use Bellhop, a business that connects independent movers (like you and me) with potential customers who need help with moving their belongings.

You can choose how much time you would like to work, and your payments are deposited directly into your bank account once every week.

3 Relocate a Vehicle

If you are not a car owner, or if you just don’t want to use your own car, then relocating a vehicle would be an ideal way to make some money.

There exist many programs that will pay you to drive cars to different states, and it can be anything from a rental car company to an auto dealership.

Businesses like Driveaway USA and Auto Driveaway are both companies that pay a professional driver (or as they call it; a driveaway driver) to relocate a car.

The best part is that you can find a driveaway service near you, which saves you the trouble of traveling lots of kilometers to the departure city.

Again, the requirements cannot be misunderstood since they are straightforward – You must be 21 years old, have a valid driver’s license, have auto insurance, and a clean driving record.

Driveaway USA provides the possibility of driving either a class A or class B vehicle.

Additionally, they have full-time and part-time job opportunities, a referral bonus program, and they have a safe driver incentive.

This is an awesome alternative option for independent contractors who do not wish to drive trucks, but at the same time, they don’t want to miss out on good money.

You should expect to earn anywhere between $100 to $2000 a week depending on the distance and the vehicle you are relocating.

4 Create a travel blog

Do you wish to visit as many cities and attractions as possible?

Documenting your road trip across the country through a blog would be a fun and cool way to make some extra money then.

The more places you visit, and the more things you explore, the more content you’ll have to write about.

If you are new to blogging online, you can monetize your blog through advertisements, affiliate links, sponsorships, and other methods as well.

To be successful with your blog, you must set it all up before you head out of the door into a pile of great adventures.

You’ll need a domain, a platform (WordPress, Blogger, Duda, etc.), and design your blog. I have a whole article about how to make money from a blog here.

Starting a travel blog has its positive consequences such as you can work from anywhere at any time as long as you have a stable internet connection.

Moreover, most people with a successful travel blog make anywhere from $500 to $3,000 a month.

Starting a travel blog has its positive consequences such as you can work from anywhere at any time as long as you have a stable internet connection.

Moreover, most people with a successful travel blog make anywhere from $500 to $3,000 a month.

The sad part about starting a blog is that it takes time to build an audience and consistent traffic, and therefore a blog might not be the best option if you want some quick cash for your trip.

Pro tip: If you are traveling to a new location, and you do not know if you’ll have an internet connection at that place – then remember to open as many windows (on your computer) and download as many images and files as possible, so you can get some work done without a connection.

5 Deliver with Roadie

Roadie is a platform that connects people who need a package delivered with an independent driver.

The driver will pick up the package at point a and deliver it at point b, making it the perfect opportunity for you to make some additional money.

The deliverables can be luggage, medicine, groceries, and so on. This business model enables fast and flexible delivery that reaches 90% of all U.S. households.

A Roadie driver must be at least 21 years old, pass a background check, and have a valid driver’s license.

In relation to income, you should expect to make anywhere between $10 to $700 per delivery, but it all depends on the package size, distance, and time deadline.

For short distances in local areas, you should expect $13 to $20 per delivery.

If you’ve already planned to drive cross country you should plan to pick up packages that are on your road, so you are not driving off your route.

6 Advertise while driving

This is definitely one option that requires a limited amount of effort.

You can get paid to put advertisements on your car, which is why it’s an ideal opportunity for cross-country drivers.

To get started, sign up with companies like Carvertise or Wrapify.

The companies will then send you a wrap that should be applied to your car.

That wrap will be a company’s advertisement, and you’ll then get paid based on how long of a distance you drive.

If you combine this type of service with another delivery service such as Roadie, this could quickly turn into a very profitable semi-passive income.

Remember that there are some downsides to this fun gig. First, your car will be wrapped in an advertisement, which is not aesthetically pleasing.

Secondly, if you live in a small town they will not accept you into their program. Finally, your car needs to be in perfect condition, otherwise, you’ll not get in.

However, if you manage to get accepted, you should expect to make somewhere between $350 to $2,000 per campaign.

Nevertheless, if you live in a city like Los Angeles or New York, it would be dumb not to apply for the programs, since it’s passive income once you first get it all set up.

7 Sign up for Uber

A rideshare service such as Uber lets you drive people to their destination for minor payments.

Uber is a nice way to use your own car to transport people to destinations that will be on your planned route.

Signing up for Uber is free, and the app will even tell you how much you’ll make for completing a specific drive.

On average, an Uber driver earns between $8.55 to $11.77 per hour of driving.

To be eligible you need to meet the minimum age to drive in your city, have a valid US driver’s license, have at least one year of licensed driving experience in the U.S. (3 years if you are under 25 years old), and use an eligible 4-door vehicle.

The best part is you decide when you want to work, and which jobs you take on.

Additionally, it’s a great way to meet new people along your route.

8 Create a Travel YouTube Channel

Along the lines of a blog, you could also start a YouTube channel, where you document your journey.

For instance, you could show the internet the different car delivery jobs you take on and how you help move people’s cars and their personal belongings for money.

Furthermore, you could record videos of the different attractions you visit on your way, and even do some reviews of the different places – only your imagination is the limit.

Although the idea is fun and can be quite lucrative, there are some downsides to it.

First, you’ll need at least 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time before you can be accepted into the YouTube Partner Program, which can take a long time.

Secondly, the earnings, in the beginning, might be quite limited, so even though you fulfill the requirements, the earnings might not be that high.

Finally, it takes a lot of time to record videos, edit, design thumbnails, and so on. Thus it takes some serious dedication and work to stay consistent.

On the other side, when the snowball starts to pick up speed, the income from YouTube ads can be life-changing, and what is better is, the earnings will be passive after the videos have been uploaded.

9 Write on Medium along the way

Medium is a platform that pays you for the number of views and the amount of reading time your articles receive. The more views, and the more reading time, the more money you’ll earn.

They also have a referral program, where you’ll earn half of your referrals’ subscription fee every single month until they unsubscribe.

It’s free to sign up, and you don’t have to pay their $5 subscription fee in order to earn money from it.

However, it still has its downsides since you’ll need a following of at least 100 to be accepted into their partner program.

Additionally, it can be quite hard to get enough views to earn a substantial amount of money.

That said, I managed to make about $2,000 in a single month on Medium, and if you want to read my free guide, you can find it right here.

You should expect to earn between $10 to $100 a month, but if you take it seriously, you can actually pass the $500 mark or even the $1,000 mark.

Pro tip: You can reuse content you write for your blog on Medium. That way you will earn some cash from Medium in the short term while building your blog’s income streams for the long term.

10 Walking dogs while crossing the country

Long road trips require multiple pitstops to get some fresh air and something to eat. Why not use some of these breaks to walk people’s dogs, so you can earn some extra cash?

As long as you enjoy walking, and you know how to walk a dog (which I assume you do), you could try this walking-dogs-gig.

Post your dog walking service on online platforms like Facebook and Craigslist, and you should be good to go.

The difficult part is, many might not want a stranger with no credentials or reviews to walk their dog since they don’t know if they can trust you.

A great workaround would be to walk the dogs of your family and friends before you drive across the country.

By doing that, they can leave you some reviews, which you can then use as proof to potential clients you meet on your route.

When setting your hourly rate you should aim for the average hourly rate in the U.S. which is $15.11, and that’s how much you should expect to earn from an hour of walking.

Pro tip: Walk multiple dogs at a time to increase your hourly rate. But if you do this, you need to be sure that the dogs can walk with other dogs without putting each other in danger. Remember, you are responsible for people’s best friends.

11 Sell digital products to get paid

When I was a college student, selling digital products was a nice way to get paid a little extra at the end of the month.

It only requires some upfront work, and then you can list your digital products on platforms like Etsy and Gumroad.

You could sell maps with pre-planned destinations you’ve visited on your journey.

Or you could create something completely different such as budgets, printables, etc.

Such a product can cost somewhere between $15 to $30, and if you sell 1 product each day that’s $450 to $900 a month. Not bad.

Pro tip: If you make multiple digital products you could combine them into a bundle, and sell them at a higher price.

12 Become a Driver For Google

I bet you’ve used Google Maps before to find a specific destination.

Did you know that you could be the one driving around taking photos of streets, buildings, and nature and get paid to do so?

That’s right, you can get hired to drive the Google Maps car.

While the pay isn’t the best ($15 an hour), it