Do you dream of full-time RV travel, but work gets in the way? If so, these 21 tips to work remote from your RV make it easy to do both. You can become a full-time RVer, travel the country, and make money too.
Whether you decide to start a business or apply for remote and location independent jobs, it’s not hard to make your dream sooner than you imagined. Here’s the tips in a nutshell.
21 Tips to Work Remote from Your RV (the smart way)
- Have Multiple Ways to Get Online
- Get a Phone Plan With Reliable Coverage
- Create a Portable Workspace
- Get a Data Backup Plan
- Carry Noise-Cancelling H
eadphones - Stick to Short Travel Days
- Keep your Devices Charged
- Follow a Work Schedule / Routine
- Be D
iscipline d - Stay Accessible
- Don’t Forget to Play
- Take Time Traveling
- Be Flexible
- Have a Plan B
- Work Remote from Your RV Outside
- Enjoy Your Work
- Go Have Fun Full-time RVing
Keep reading for more great tips to work and travel in your RV.
Dos and Don’ts for Your RV Home Office
Working and full-time RVing can co-exist. That’s if you are disciplined enough to follow a plan to make money from your mobile home office. Create a good RV home business and office plan to foolproof your new lifestyle. Ready to get started? Here’s how to create a smart working and camping strategy.
Have Multiple Ways to Get Online
Fast, reliable internet access is the biggest sacrifice when you work remote from your RV. The lack of reliable internet connectivity means you must travel with at internet access options that look like this:
- Multiple cellular carriers. Don’t just stick with one Internet provider. Open accounts with at least two mobile internet and cell phone providers. If one company doesn’t have coverage where you travel, the other one might. Make sure the company has unlimited data plans.
- A backup hot spot. Most people use cellular phone hotspots to get online. This is usually fine. But a smart traveler who works remotely from their RV will also carry an internet hotspot device. If you lose your phone, you’ll be able to go online and work to pay for a new one. A backup hot spot also provides more data for getting online.
Get a Phone Plan With Reliable Coverage
Another thing all working full-time RVers need is reliable phone coverage. Whether you are employed by a company or your own boss, reliable coverage makes it easy for customers and bosses to reach you.
If your phone network does not have good coverage, it makes life difficult. You won’t have cellular access for half of the places you travel to which is not good when you need to be available for work. Always check a carrier’s network coverage map before signing a contract.
Create a Portable Workspace
A set working space helps you be as productive as possible when you work. Having this set workspace allows you to create an atmosphere of productivity. Your RV home office, however, may also need to be able to easily be put away when not in use.
In an RV, the dining table serves as an eating space, work desk, and leisure lounge. The RV couch or chairs are the only lounge space for most RVers.
Unless you have a permanent RV work desk, your workspace must be easy to set up and put away. A portable RV workspace makes it easier to prepare for traveling days. And you’ll know that your laptop won’t end up on the floor when you hit a bump in the road.
Get a Data Backup Plan
This is so important I cannot stress it to you enough. When you work remote from your RV, backing up your data is critical. What if your computer gets destroyed, stolen, or dies on you? You have no more access to your files. If you lose all of your hard work you could even lose your job.
Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Regularly back up your files in cloud storage like Amazon AWS. Purchase an external hard drive too. This keeps your hard work close and accessible to you. Just plug the hard drive into another computer to work on this stuff.
Carry Noise-Cancelling Headphones
RV parks can be noisy, especially during spring and summer. You will have neighbors on vacation that play and make noise. Lawn mowers are also going full-force during the warm months. This can be fun to watch for about 10 minutes. But when you work remote from your RV through all the noise and distractions, the novelty soon wears off.
My tip to remedy this problem? Invest in some good, noise-canceling headphones. There could be a 300-member marching band playing music and marching around your RV. But with headphones, you can focus on making money. And if you like a bit of music while you work from your RV, a super nice noise-canceling headphone can
Stick to Short Travel Days
When you are a working, full-time RVer, you need time to sit down, focus, and work. On days you change locations, arrange your day accordingly. For example, work four hours in the early morning, then travel four hours at mid-day.
Some people who work and full-time RV try make up the mileage with occasional long travel days. Unexperienced RVers try to push through a 10-12 hour drive in one day. They may think they can make up the work time later, but it doesn’t always work that way.
Traveling all day is exhausting. You push, push, push and then when you finally make it to your destination, all you want to do is lay around for the next two days to recuperate. When you are this exhausted, work time suffers. Stick to shorter travel days in general to be more productive.
Keep your Devices Charged
Living in a stick house makes it easy to keep laptops and cell phones charged. But when you live on the road, you may not always have reliable electricity. Whether you have RV solar power or always use campground hookups, if you change locations without fully-charged devices, you may not have power when you pull over for a rest break. Always keep your devices charged to full battery whenever you have access to outlets.
Follow a Work Schedule / Routine
When you live and work remote from your RV, it is easy to get caught up in all the fun parts of this lifestyle. This makes it easy to forget that effective work requires some sort of routine. To keep up with your work and not slack off, stick to a schedule and a personal routine. Knowing exactly when you need to get work done is a great habit to help you to stay productive and effective.
Be Discipline d
When you make your own schedule and independently choose to make money from your RV, it is super easy to get lazy. Many young full-time RVers and newly self-employed people fall into a rut of procrastination and distraction. The result is never-ending stress that makes you miserable.
Be disciplined. Stick to your work schedule. Avoid distractions during your peak work hours, by keeping your phone on Do Not Disturb. Set a high standard and you won’t have to worry about cramming a week’s worth of work into two days because you fell behind.
Stay Accessible
When you are a working full-time RVer, keeping in contact with work can be tough if not impossible sometimes. Make sure that people can call, email, text, or reach you in some way to communicate work information. Again, this is why it is so important to have a reliable cell and internet plan with good coverage.
Don’t Forget to Play
Motivated and dedicated workers sometimes find it hard to separate work and play time. Of course you need your phone on in case a work-related issue pops up. But everyone needs time to relax, recuperate, and have fun. This means you!
Take regular breaks from work and go play. You won’t stressed all the time and the occasional days off can even help be more productive during dedicated work days.
Take your Time Traveling
Slowly moving from one location to the next helps you relax. You enjoy more of the scenery, and you won’t be exhausted when you finally land in a new spot. Soaking up all the new sights between destinations helps you find undiscovered gems, and enjoy all the reasons why you wanted to work remote from your RV in the first place.
Be Flexible
Flexibility is crucial for working, full-time RVers. Where you go and how effectively you work can sometimes be at the mercy of your location and events out of your control. For example, an RV tire blow out can keep you off the road in a less-than-desirable location for longer than you want.
You won’t be able to control everything that happens because you are almost never going to be in a set environment. Plans will often change, even when you aren’t always expecting it. Just go with the flow, reevaluate the situation, and try again. Enjoyment of the full-time RVing lifestyle requires flexibility.
Always Have a Plan B
Along with maintaining flexibility, keep a Plan B in your back pocket. Moving locations means there is always a chance that something can go wrong. You might lose your reliable mobile internet connection. Or your RV has mechanical problems. Sometimes the location is terrible. Back-up plans might mean:
- Having an alternate campground selected in case the one you just checked into doesn’t work out.
- Keeping in touch with business contacts who can help you find work if your present income dries up.
- Knowing where the weather is good, if it turns bad at your location.
A good back-up plan takes some of the stress away when you need to change your situation.
Work Remote from Your RV Outside, Too
When you work remote from your RV, life should be fun. Camping in gorgeous scenery can you sad when you have deadlines and are stuck in a small, confined RV for hours trying to get things done. So just move your RV home office outside. You can still be productive and make clients and bosses happy. And best of all, you can soak up some sunshine and enjoy the scenery.
Enjoy Your Work
Do you love the work you do? If you don’t have any interest or joy in how you earn money, full-time RVing becomes miserable. It’s the work you chose that allows you to enjoy full-time RVing before retirement age. Keep growing and learning in the work that you do, and happiness can follow you around every turn. If some day it doesn’t, you know it’s time to find a new job.
Go Have Fun Full-time RVing!
Set aside time to enjoy new adventures. Take regular days off to explore your new location. Go rock climbing, take a hike, run your butt off, bike to a new tourist spot. Just do whatever activity rocks your world to keep the joy flowing.
You live this lifestyle to set your own schedule and make incredible memories. Don’t waste your time stressing about how to make money while traveling. Live your life and do these things without regret. The beauty of deciding to work remote from your RV is you are always reminded that life is short, and it can be an adventure if you want it to be one.
