Explore the world while maintaining a productive and rewarding career
Working remotely on the road, also known as digital nomadism, has transformed the modern workforce. It has changed the culture of work, from cutting out commutes to deciding whether or not to wear hard pants.
Van lifers have taken full advantage of remote work’s perks. Now, instead of being tethered to large corporate offices, cubicles, and commuting, van-living digital nomads log into work from wherever they’re parked for the day, and take coffee breaks in the great outdoors.
Working remotely on the road is pretty great when compared to traditional in-person working. However, it doesn’t come without its obstacles. Keep reading for our list of essential gear and productivity hacks to make your nomad life more comfortable, efficient, and productive.
Choosing the Right Van for Work
Fortunately, whether you are a solo traveler or traveling with a partner or pet, each of our vans can accommodate a highly-productive remote work lifestyle.
First off, each DM Van comes equipped with a robust solar-powered electrical system to power up your digital to-dos.
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Besides the electrical power, each DM Van has an adjustable table that’s perfect for use as your desk. Our builds offer plenty of natural lighting, air conditioning for hot days, and heating for the winter, all of which make for a serene and inviting workspace.
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Essential Remote Work Equipment
Everyone’s work setup is unique to their job, personality and their working style. However, over the years, we’ve gathered some practical knowledge.
From firsthand experience of working on the road in camper vans, here’s our specific list of exactly which types of products help to maintain productivity for this particular slice of nomadism:
- Laptop or Tablet: A no-brainer here. A laptop or tablet is the centerpiece of any digital nomad’s setup. We recommend choosing a machine that is lightweight, powerful, and suitable for your tasks.
- External Monitor: Laptops and tablets are fantastic, but sometimes it’s extra nice to expand your digital workspace to a secondary external monitor. Enhancing your screen real estate is good not only for multitasking, but also for streaming movies once the work day is done.
- Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse: In our less-wise years, we went for the cheapest equipment. Now, ergonomic keyboards and computer mice are a priority. Ergonomic gear optimizes your comfort for long hours and reduces your likelihood of strains or other injuries.
- Noise-Canceling Headphones: You’d assume that taking a call in the middle of the desert somewhere in Utah is an almost totally quiet and serene experience. But sometimes, being a digital nomad means working in noisy places like coworking spaces, coffee shops, and bookstores. With noise-canceling headphones, you can block out distractions in shared spaces and keep your productivity high.
- Portable Charger: While working in the van (and connected to shore power), it’s easy to keep your devices charged and ready to work. Nonetheless, it can be convenient to keep a selection of charging cables and portable battery banks to keep your devices powered on the go.
- Notebook and Pen: Nowadays, working remotely means doing almost everything in a digital format. However, we’ve found that a good old-fashioned notebook and pen (or pencil) are a must-have for jotting down ideas and to-do lists offline.
- Task Lighting: Working in a van with natural sunlight is a lovely experience, but sometimes work days extend into the wee hours of the night. If you’re a night owl, having effective lighting will be critical to your productivity. Besides the overhead lighting in your van, we recommend illuminating your workspace during late nights with additional portable clip-on lamps. (Even a headlamp is good for this, too.)
- Document Scanner: Sometimes, interfacing between physical documents and the digital world can be tricky. For example, digitizing paperwork and work-expense receipts. Utilizing a document scanner streamlines that process and makes your life so much easier. There are apps you can download on your smartphone to save space, or you may find that having a purpose-built document scanner suits your work better.
- Comfortable Chair Cushion: How you position your body while you work is a vital component to your longevity. Inadequate seating and poor posture can affect your productivity over the short term and lead to postural problems in the long run. However, a full-sized office chair isn’t your best use of space in a camper van. We recommend buying an ergonomic cushion to support your back during extended work sessions.
Connecting to the Internet
When working remotely on the road, your career depends on reliable internet access. Fortunately, there are now a ton of different ways to stay connected so you can show up to meetings and hit your deadlines.
Local cafes, public libraries, and bookstores are easy and free places for digital nomads to find reliable wi-fi spots during the work day. Plus, you get to tap a little bit into the local scene and see the cities you are traveling through.
However, depending on your work needs, you may find that you require a private wi-fi connection instead of relying on public networks.
Mobile hotspots
Accessing the internet on your phone or creating a hotspot with your cell phone works. However, oftentimes, as digital nomads, we need a more substantial internet connection. That’s where mobile hotspots come in handy.
A mobile hotspot is a device that connects to the local cellular network to provide your devices (cell phones, laptops, and tablets) with a private high-speed internet connection. There are a lot of different products and service providers you can choose from, but we recommend going with one of the most reliable– Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile.
In selecting your hotspot provider and device, keep the following consideration in mind:
- Connection speed: mobile hotspots are great, but they are typically slower than at-home wifi, so be sure to select a plan that provides enough speed for your work.
- Data limits: unlimited data plans are probably the best. However, even unlimited plans will slow down after you reach the high-speed cap for your specific plan.
- Location availability: most hot spots will work fine in metropolitan areas but oif you travel in rural areas, it’ll be important to select a service provider with good service in those areas.
- Device compatibility and quantity: before paying for your mobile hotspot plan, ensure that your device is compatible with your service provider.
Cell service and wi-fi boosters
One of the potential fallbacks of using your cellphone as a hotspot or deploying a purpose-built mobile hotspot for wi-fi while you’re on the road is that it depends on the quality of the local cell service. In other words, if cellular service connectivity is bad, your wifi will be slow or nonexistent.
If you predict that you will need a wifi connection in regions where cell service is unreliable, we recommend checking out cell phone and wi-fi boosters. Boosters amplify weak signals when parked in remote locations which means you can increase connectivity in far-flung locations.
Satellite Internet
The next step up from mobile hotspots is satellite internet. Satellite internet is a very powerful tool because it provides you with internet connectivity even in the most remote areas.
As the name suggests, satellite internet uses a wireless connection between a satellite that is orbiting around the earth and a satellite dish that you deploy from your van.
If you prefer to disappear deep into the backcountry, but still want to make business calls or watch movies, satellite internet is the best option for truly off-grid work.
Starlink is the industry leader in the satellite internet space. It’s proven to be a game-changer for our own employees and customers at DM Vans due to its high-speed access in even the most far-flung remote areas. However, other reliable service providers to check out are HughesNet and Viasat.
Time Management Strategies to Stay Productive
Living in a DM Van, traveling around the United States, and working from wherever you please can feel a lot like vacation. And an always-on-vacation attitude doesn’t always mesh well with work. So, for the digital nomads who maybe could use a few time management tips, here are our thoughts on how to strategically manage time and remain productive while living, traveling, and working in a van.
Set a Routine
Driving from place to place, waking up in new states, and exploring nature is insanely fun. But it can sometimes make you feel like a routine is lacking.
Without a solid routine, it’s easy to fall off the work bandwagon and not finish projects, hit deadlines, or show up to meetings. That’s why one of the most important things to do as a digital nomad is to establish consistent work hours.
After you establish your schedule, it’s important to stick to it, regardless of your location or upcoming destination.
Batch Work
Categorizing your work tasks into batches based on your energy levels throughout the day is a super helpful way to stay organized and avoid the fatigue of context-switching.
For example, a remote freelance writer may work on personal creative work first thing in the morning. Then, after lunch, they can check emails. After that, they can transition into finishing off specific projects. Then, they can dedicate some time in the afternoon to connect with their clients and begin planning for the next week.
Take Breaks
Breaks keep you recharged and refreshed throughout the day. Taking a quick stroll from your cubicle to the break room to eat a snack offers a nice relief, but it pales in comparison to what’s possible with van life.
Imagine with us for a second– you’re in your van, typing away, participating in meetings and making phone calls. The door is open and your view consists of the Pacific coastline. After lunch, you log off and go for a two-mile beach walk. Heck– maybe you even go for a surf session. Then, you get back to work in the evening.
Not bad, right?
Limit Distractions
With the ever-changing scenery of van life, it’s easy to feel distracted. You can limit distractions by cleaning your physical surroundings, and mental space.
Establishing a routine works to avoid constant decision-making throughout the day. In addition to routine, having noise-canceling headphones), regularly tidying your desk, and setting a boundary between work and sleep spaces will help keep your eye on the ball.
Plan Ahead
Each day is different during van life. You may even cross time zones. For these reasons, planning ahead and scheduling important work milestones is even more important than before.
For example, you’ll need to schedule calls during times when you’ll have cell service. Or, if you have a big driving day coming up, you may want to push a deadline by a day or two. In addition, you may need to manually change your calendar and scheduling apps to reflect any timezones you crossed.
And, of course, if you need to schedule free time and step out of “the office” for a midday romp around whatever State or National Park you’re visiting, your team will need to know you’ll respond to their emails afterward.
Ergonomics and Health
The rise of remote work is truly amazing for van lifers and aspiring van lifers. So, because we want your digital nomad lifestyle to be long and fruitful, here are some health-related tips to keep you feeling fresh over the days, and perhaps years of remote work ahead.
- Proper Posture: Adjust your seat, keyboard, computer mouse, and monitor height to be as ergonomic as possible.
- Stretching Exercises: Combat stiffness and muscle tension by taking periodic breaks to stretch out. Short walks are also good for relieving some of the tension that can build up from sitting for too long.
- Eye Care: Follow the 20-20-20 rule to reduce eye strain. “Every 20 minutes, shift your eyes to look at an object at least 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.”
- Outdoor Workspaces: Utilize picnic tables or lookout spots for a change of scenery. You’ll be surprised by how amazingly productive you can be working at a picnic table, with warm temperatures, natural sunlight, a cool breeze, and a beautiful view in front of you..
It’s Time to Try Working on the Road in a DM Van
In our opinion, there is no better time than right now to move into a van and work remotely. The freedom and flexibility you can enjoy as a digital nomad are truly worlds away from being tied to a corporate office or coworking space.
Whether you are contemplating the digital nomad lifestyle or have been hitting deadlines and taking calls from your van while parked in Timbuktu for years, we hope this article helped shed some light on the benefits you could enjoy from working remotely in a DM Van.
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See you on the road. -Dave and Matt
