Single RVing Mother (parent)

Someone else posted the Fulltime Families link. There is a Fulltime Families Facebook group that has other single parents who are doing it. Might want to join us over there.

We often see mother's with children at campgrounds. We stop and ask if they want to drop by our campsite and pick up wood that we will be leaving.

In order to find out if your plan of RVing w/children and setting up your own massage business is possible or a reality, I suggest you:
1. call 2 State Parks in 3 neighboring states
2. call 3 Private RV parks in 3 neighboring states
3. call 3 private RESORT type rv Parks(larger).

Present your "dream and plan" and ask them if your "dream" is possible in the various RV Parks that you call. what are the regulations, rules, requirements etc etc needed?

djgarcia,
You offered 3 very good suggestions and that should be easy to execute.

Have you considered going back to school for an RN degree. I understand travel nursing pays well. My daughter did that for a while before getting married but did not do it the RVing way.

Your Washington license is good in Washington, but likely does not transfer to another state that requires licensing. The certification represented by the license might be a basis for getting licenses in other states, but documentation of your training will likely be more useful. You might also expect background checks.

Most states will want you to have a sales tax license, particularly if services are taxed. Some will want a business license. Many local governments also require a business license for any type of business, may have specific licenses for your business, and might have bonding or liability insurance requirements.

That being said, enforcement of licensing and tax codes is difficult. Tens of thousands of people in this country, both permanently located and itinerant, operate outside the legal structure offering short-term small services like lawn care or gardening, property maintenance, technology help service, and personal services like yours. Other occupations include entertainment and selling handicrafts, although the legal system often has some accommodation for these sorts of business at special events.

I think most people in these gray areas of business understand the risks. If caught, they might pay a fine, do some short jail time, negotiate a solution by agreeing to desist or get appropriate licenses, or just move on. In this community much of this activity is policed by Neighborhood Services, which might issue a citation similar in effect to a traffic violation, or warn you to cease, have you appear before an administrative judge. But I've also seen cases locally go to the municipal court or circuit court as misdemeanors, and your situation as a single parent of small children is precarious: you could temporarily lose custody of your children if arrested on suspicion, however briefly.

Whether a RV park or a public campground would allow you to operate your business might depend first on the legal situation, and after that how your business fits in with their business.

WARNING: ACTUALLY USEFUL ADVICE FOLLOWS

1. Is your plan feasible? Yes. However, you'll have to choose between making it all perfectly legal (business licenses, masseuse licenses, sales taxes, etc. everywhere you go, seeking permission from every place you stop, etc.) or working under the table/the radar. Personally, I feel that if you execute a private transaction with another individual for massage services, that's your and their business only. Stay unobtrusive and you might be able to just perform the service in their RV. Bottom line: your income will be sporadic. You might do quite well if you park in someplace like Quartzite. ALSO, set up a website, get a Twitter account, and constantly tweet your location. I think there might be a robust demand for your services if you market them properly. Mobile massage services. Sounds trendy.

2. I would NOT do what you're doing unless you had adequate provisions for child care, schooling, and medical care. Do you actually have the ability (not just the inclination) to home school your children? Will the oldest have the ability (and the inclination!) to care for your younger children while you're with clients?

3. Most important of all: are you contemplating doing this because you want to escape from your current situation? Are you finding motherhood and raising a family to be too constraining and confining? That's fine in and of itself. In fact, I would guess that fully half of the people our there who have started families never should have done so. Not everybody is cut out to be a parent. Our society is formed on the premise that everybody should get hooked up and start popping out babies as soon as possible, but I know quite a few people who met the ultimate departure of their children for the big wide world with a huge sigh of relief and the feeling that now, they could finally get out there and start LIVING. Implying, of course, that maintaining a household and attending to the little ones' every need and desire for decades, to them, hadn't really been living.

I suspect that may be the case with you. If so, going on the road fulltime won't eradicate that problem--you'll be putting it on your back and taking it with you. Of course, it might be seen as an elegant solution to the problem if you camped in locations with active grizzly bear populations and rubbed steak sauce into your kids' hair before they went to sleep at night. Over time, statistically, the problem would resolve itself.

If I have one overarching message, it's that what you are thinking about IS quite doable, but it will be complex. More and more people are living and working in a completely mobile fashion. If you can develop a following and market yourself properly, I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to at the very least, eke out a modest living. The attendant freedom, it sounds, could be well worth the hassle to you.

I think the under the radar comments are how most of these business are run. You can tiptoe around the business license by not having set fees and taking "donations". This will not satisfy the IRS, but most local entities have bigger fish to fry then your massage business.
You will have better luck with private parks then state or federal ones. We are work camping in a very nice 100 space park. The owners are sticklers on the rules and run a tight ship. We have a very nice guest lounge which they allow long term renters to use for things like pampered chef, Tupperware etc. Would they allow a masseuse? Don't know but I can ask if you like just pm me.
As for home schooling we have several in our park. They all use Internet based programs that seem very reasonable.
Keep up your research as knowledge is power. There are obstacles, but anything in life worth doing will have them.
Best of luck

I think the under the radar comments are how most of these business are run. You can tiptoe around the business license by not having set fees and taking "donations". This will not satisfy the IRS, but most local entities have bigger fish to fry then your massage business.
You will have better luck with private parks then state or federal ones. We are work camping in a very nice 100 space park. The owners are sticklers on the rules and run a tight ship. We have a very nice guest lounge which they allow long term renters to use for things like pampered chef, Tupperware etc. Would they allow a masseuse? Don't know but I can ask if you like just pm me.
As for home schooling we have several in our park. They all use Internet based programs that seem very reasonable.
Keep up your research as knowledge is power. There are obstacles, but anything in life worth doing will have them.
Best of luck

I think the under the radar comments are how most of these business are run. You can tiptoe around the business license by not having set fees and taking "donations". This will not satisfy the IRS, but most local entities have bigger fish to fry then your massage business.
You will have better luck with private parks then state or federal ones. We are work camping in a very nice 100 space park. The owners are sticklers on the rules and run a tight ship. We have a very nice guest lounge which they allow long term renters to use for things like pampered chef, Tupperware etc. Would they allow a masseuse? Don't know but I can ask if you like just pm me.
As for home schooling we have several in our park. They all use Internet based programs that seem very reasonable.
Keep up your research as knowledge is power. There are obstacles, but anything in life worth doing will have them.
Best of luck