Rough Living: Tips and Tales of a Vagabond

Part 4 - How to Make Money Without a Job

One aspect of this site is to share my work as a writer through the years. I’ve already started to share the audiobook version of Notes from Nowhere (2020) but now we go further back and hit the first book I wrote, Rough Living: Tips and Tales of a Vagabond (2003 & 2012 revised) Here is the first in this series of posts - the Introduction. In a sense, the success of this book set me on the path I’m on, or the failure of this book - depending on how you look at it.

In the paid subscriber section this week - I offer expanded content- as well as links to where you can get the full PDF versions of the book for free and I’ll also offer some commentary on the parts of the text we cover. In addition, paid subscribers get valuable updates on new ways to do things more than two decades after first publication.

Keep in mind, I wrote this in 2002 so much of it has been absorbed by the world and some of it simply doesn’t work any longer. In addition, the world has changed dramatically since that time. We may not see it clearly, like a person who looks in the mirror every day and doesn’t see themselves aging - but the change is profound. This is one more reason to become a paid subscriber - you will get the value of modern perspectives and tools. Your subscription will pay for itself.

This week in the paid section - how to make money with books, zero investment to cash in hand.

Free subscribers will get pieces of the original 2003 text itself, delivered weekly. This week - it’s focused on filling your belly when you don’t have money. It’s interesting to note that the wealthy don’t mind accepting free food but generally don’t want you to have it.

Allons-y!

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Cash: Coming up with Jack

For most of my life, I’ve had jobs. I’ve had lots of jobs.

When I was in 4th grade I had a paper route, when I was in middle and high schools, my parents paid me for chores, when I was 14, I got my first job at a restaurant. Since then I’ve washed dishes, bussed tables, waitered, tended bar, cooked, and hosted in dozens of restaurants.

I’ve dug ditches, built houses, painted houses, and cleaned all the stuff money can buy out of people’s garages. I’ve filed papers, ran meetings, cold called, door knocked, and answered phones. I’ve been a DJ and done craft services on a movie set. I’ve been a stand in, a radio producer, a band manager, and an air traffic controller.

I’ve managed buildings, served as a Marine, and shoveled shit. I’ve tried to find “my calling” in so many different career paths that I’ve nearly run out of choices. The problem with all of them is that I like my time. I was born with all of it, and I don’t see why I should give it to someone else unless it’s really what I want to be doing.

I’ve even found jobs that were based around things I like doing. Things like skiing, kayaking, and hanging out in bars.

The problem is that if somebody is paying me, my time quits being mine and becomes his or hers.

Employment is slavery.

As soon as someone starts paying me for my time, I realize how much it’s worth to me. And the problem is, my time is worth a lot more than $20,000 dollars a year let alone $6.50 an hour.

Don’t get me wrong; I’ve had “good” jobs. Job’s where I was treated right, the pay was decent, and the “benefits” were comprehensive.

I just knew that my time belonged to someone else.

Since I don’t know when I will die, that was still unacceptable.

I’ve never had a wage slave mentality. I refuse to get a minimum wage job at Wal-Mart. I’d rather eat cat food from dumpsters.

The guys at the top aren't working for pennies. They just encourage us to fill our garages and our stomachs with things we never would have thought of were it not for their non-stop television, radio, and print campaigns. The advertising companies work for the factories that churn out more and more useless ‘necessities’ every day. They encourage us to consume, consume, consume and spend, spend, spend.

The bottom line is you gotta do what you gotta do to get the money to survive.

I've broken up concrete driveways for Irish Gypsies in England, moved tons of rocks in Hawaii, and taught conversational English to schoolchildren in Indonesia.

Working while you are on the road is generally more fun than having a real job because you know that you are going to be leaving. If having a career works for you, more power to you, but so far it hasn’t worked for me.

Communications: Getting a Phone, Physical Address, and E-Mail Address

If you want to get employment it is always helpful to have a phone number and address. Not only do they give potential employers a way to contact you, they also give your family and friends a way to contact you.

Same goes for e-mail. If you don’t have e-mail yet, you’re missing out on a great way to keep in contact with the people you know and the people you meet. Most libraries offer free internet access, internet cafe’s are plentiful and cheap, and there are plenty of free e-mail options available.

These things are necessary if you are applying for any type of government benefits too. Sometimes you can use a friend’s, but there are other ways to get a physical address. When I moved from North Carolina to Washington State, I used some of my limited resources to get a post office box at a shipping supply store. The advantage of this over the Post Office is that you can use the physical address of the place on resumes and job applications.

For a phone, I paid $30 to get a number at a message service.

Prepaid cell phones have made things even more cheap and convenient, so you can not only get messages but also have a phone. My cell phone and 200 minutes of prepaid anytime use cost $138 at K-Mart. This includes voicemail. If I want to buy additional minutes I can buy 150 for about $40. (Note: I wrote this in 2002, today you can get a prepaid phone and minutes for as little as $10)

WiFi and Laptops
With my laptop I can find internet access pretty much anywhere. It’s called WiFi. Lot’s of business’s provide free wireless laptop access if you buy a cup of coffee. If you don’t want to buy a cup of coffee you can do what we old geeks used to call ‘war dialing’. You go to a neighborhood where someone might have a wireless network. There are commercial products you can use to find these ‘hotspots’ but what I do is put in my wireless card and drive around the rich neighborhoods slowly until I get a good signal. Then I pull over and surf the net in my van. (Note: Today you can find iPhone and Android apps for your phone that will find open WiFi signals.)

Who would have guessed the homeless would get internet from the rich for free? (note from the present in 2025: This is almost unnecessary now because wifi is everywhere but you can still find wifi connections with no password - but you have to look harder)

Daily Labor

Daily labor is a way to get some money in your pocket. The problem is that you need to get there early, the pay isn't good, and the work usually sucks. I've used services like Labor Ready only twice in my life because I can usually find a better way to spend my time and get what I need.

Under the Table (Risks and Benefits)

Working for anyone under the table is always a risky venture. You are putting trust in someone that you probably don't know very well. The truth is that if they choose not to pay you or to short your pay there isn't much you can do about it.

On the positive side, if you are getting paid under the table you aren't paying taxes and your boss isn't paying taxes so you are both making more than if you were legitimate. Personally, I like that none of the money goes to supporting programs I don't agree with. (We can always anonymously donate to causes we do agree with.)

Farms

If you arrive at the right part of the year, you can almost always find farm work in exchange for food, shelter, or sometimes even cold, hard cash. Farm work isn’t easy though. The hours are long, the work is usually dirty and labor intensive, and the pay is usually minimum wage or less. However, I have known people that had wonderful times picking apples in Washington State or Australia, pulling potatoes in Idaho, or working on organic farms in the Cascades and Kauai.

Gambling

Gambling is a risky venture. There is a reason why the casinos are so fancy. The reason is that most people lose. I have a simple system that has actually left me a bit ahead. I decide how much I can afford to lose, I stick to that, and every time I win anything in excess of my original amount I put it in my pocket. Once I lose the amount I planned on, I leave...usually.

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That’s it for this week. Short and sweet. It’s crazy that this was all I had at my disposal back in 2002. There are so many ways to make money today that didn’t exist back then… if you are a paid subscriber - read on for some of them.

If you aren’t a paid subscriber - what the heck are you waiting for? This is money in your pocket.