Soft-Boiled Plans

[AWanderingZeke]

Hi all! Bright-eyed and bushy tailed newbie here, primarily here to lurk and ask questions as they occur to me.

My name is Zeke and I'm less than a month shy of 29 years old. For everyone's convenience, I'll start off with a bulleted list of fast facts about me, then get more in depth to my journey and plans, but suffice to say I am very new to all of this.

- I'm autistic, with multiple mental disabilities(abusive step dad and generally a childhood that wasn't very autism-friendly).
- I'm currently on SSI (see above) but working towards supporting myself full time with the crafts I do.
- I absolutely must live with some sort of furry animal or my mental health evaporates entirely.
- No bus and no immediate plans to obtain one; I am very much in the saving and planning stage.
- I have never driven a vehicle. You heard that right; I do not know how to drive, but I want to jump behind the wheel of a school bus and take off. Part of why I'm in the ramping up stage!

To spare everyone my tragic backstory, I've spent the last ~11 years recovering from my childhood and learning more about myself, disabilities, and how to live with them. It was only 2019 when the factors finally aligned (or budged off) enough that I developed the confidence to start making and selling crafts (started with acrylic pours, now do much more). While I would have loved to sustain myself on this, it didn't seem terribly realistic at the time and was just a way to give myself a little spending money, because when you're living off of $750ish a month, every dollar is a gold nugget.

Over the course of the last couple years I have been growing confidence in various areas. I've been wanting to purchase a storefront where I can sell my goods- and those of other local crafters- full time due to the influence of a local shop that has closed, but I'll again spare the details since I'm sure people here can empathize with real estate costs and concerns, along with renovations after that.

Then, at the beginning of the month... and I can't say for sure where it came from, but this little worm wriggled into my ear and struck me with "what if, instead of spending a huge amount on a store front and being locked into one place for what feels like forever... what if you make a mobile store?"

This little thought lead me down the pipeline of mobile boutiques and quickly into the land of skoolies and van life- I was actually working on layout ideas before I even stepped into the land of skoolies because I was so enticed by it! And when I discovered skoolies, I even built a model of my plans with paper and cardboard.

I've spent the rest of the month since my little brain worm researching skoolies, living on the road full time, etc. My ultimate goal is to own a 40' rear engine and travel around(hopefully with the weather), setting up shop anywhere I can to dole out my crafts as well as provide a temporary place for crafters local to whatever area I'm in. I've been researching what I can, but there seems to be very little overlap between "I live in this vehicle full time" and "I use this vehicle as a retail store"; despite my best efforts, I find either one or the other... or people who work remotely while traveling and aren't actually open to the public.

TL;DR: I'm a disabled person pining after skoolie life, with a slow-baking and long-term plan to convert a school bus into part-store part-home. I'm in way over my head but I'm eager to learn, and also wondering if this is even a legal possibility.

[DeMac]

Welcome to the Insane Asylum, AWanderingZeke. You are clearly one of us.



I have seen traveling business of many sorts. Often traveling with an event, sometimes lone.
Do you currently (or intend to) live in an area where you might park & work on a bus?

[AWanderingZeke]

Thanks!

That's part of the baking-plans department, but my grandparents have an RV they store on their friend's property in the Winter Times so I was going to look into either that, or local storage areas or other solutions once the time gets closer; my goal is to have everything lined up before I even start looking for a specific bus, with my current priorities being a more concrete budget (I'm working on a list of things I need from tools to rip her apart right on up to like, upholstery for the finishing touches) as well as figuring out the legal/insurance/general paperwork and stuff!

[Vapor Ghost]

Not a bad plan if all else fails you'll have a place to live..Good

Luck ! Hope it works out for you !

[TheHubbardBus]

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Zeke, maybe starting your journey learning how to drive (probably something other than a bus to start) would be a great first step? It's obviously a requirement in the pursuit of this goal, but even outside this endeavor, would open up a world of opportunity to you, and it's something you should be able to do right now. I think everyone remembers the excitement of getting their first driver's license!

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Zeke, maybe starting your journey learning how to drive (probably something other than a bus to start) would be a great first step? It's obviously a requirement in the pursuit of this goal, but even outside this endeavor, would open up a world of opportunity to you, and it's something you should be able to do right now. I think everyone remembers the excitement of getting their first driver's license!

Agreed!! each step is a move forward!! first learn to drive and get comfortable driving a car.. then work on getting your CDL over time.. to use a bus as a business you will likely need one..



Meet people with busses... make friends , people are often excited to have snall gatherings of busses in wal mart parking lots .. there you can see busses up close, see someone elses build or plans.. more than once I have let people drive one of mine around in a parking lot as they had never even sat in a bus driver seat before.. we set up the cones and they practiced whether they felt comfortable turning, backing, etc.. learning..



the great thing is you are planning and learning along the way!!

[AWanderingZeke]

Driving experience is definitely in the top three priorities! I'm an obsessive planner so, for big projects, I like to have all of my steps set out in advance which means I can get a little caught up in the details(see: my notebook full of things I'll need at various stages of the conversion).

I'll admit that driving has always really scared me but I'm at a point in my recovery where I'm actually... remarkably, excited to learn, so I'm waiting for my roomie to have some free time when she can help me start out!

I hadn't even considered orchestrating a meet up to get some bus experience! That's a great idea and I'm definitely nesting it away for later. Part of why I never learned to drive a car is because my spatial reasoning (or lack thereof) makes me a bit nervous so experience in various vehicles would be so cool.

I'm really excited and I love researching passion projects so I'm definitely looking forward to the coming months/years of putting all of this together

[La Camioneta]

Welcome, Zeke!