What it’s like to be a digital nomad

It’s hard to believe it, but my husband and I just celebrated a year and a half on the road! I often say there are as many ways to RV full-time as there are full-time RVers, and that’s also true of the many ways we can run businesses nomadically. Having passed this milestone, I thought it would be fun to reflect on a few things I’ve learned running a business while RVing full-time.

Internet access

We definitely had growing pains for the first few months figuring out what our mobile internet solution should be. When we went full-time, my husband and I were on the same AT&T plan, which wasn’t unlimited. We’d always planned to have different services (redundancy is very important for digital nomads!), so we bit the bullet and switched. I’m now on a Verizon Business plan for my phone, plus I have a second line for a mobile router that acts as our RV “wifi.” Both plans are “unlimited” (in quotes because they’re never really unlimited).

All was hunky dory until we got to a campsite about six weeks later with ZERO Verizon service but acceptable AT&T service. So now I also have an “unlimited” tablet plan on AT&T Business. We prioritize cell reception when looking for new campsites and rely on the Coverage? app to help pinpoint where there’s 4G or 5G coverage for Verizon and AT&T. And we never ever rely on campground wifi.

Financially, I audit how much personal versus business time I spend on each plan (comparing actual data use to my work schedule in a given month), then I split the bills on the backend in Quickbooks.

My workstation

This has taken me the longest to figure out. I have always been a flexible worker: I don’t stay in one position too long, sometimes working at a desk, on the couch, on the floor, standing, etc. (While I was working festival events in Savannah, I’d frequently work from the hatchback of my Subaru, using a cooler as a laptop stand.) When we first hit the road, I exclusively worked at our dinette. I soon found the seating position to be less than optimal. I played around with some standing solutions, usually involving a complex setup of boxes and a step stool.

After some research, I finally settled on a two-stand solution. I have a stand just for my laptop and a second stand that I use for my keyboard and trackpad. I can use those standing (in the kitchen), sitting at the dinette (usually with a pillow to get my elbow angle correct), or even working from the bed. I also work from the truck if we’re moving (and my husband is driving!) or if I need to catch up away from the RV.

Client load versus travel

My busiest work times are January-March and June-July. I’ve learned that I need to be as stationary as possible during those times to best focus on churning out grants and reports. For instance, we were parked at our family’s house in the first quarter of 2023, and I booked a month in St. Louis this summer for my June/July busy times. Since I’m the travel scheduler in my relationship, I’ve engineered it so we do the most travel (i.e., moving more than twice a month) in my slower times. The added bonus is that it usually feels nicer to stay in a place for two weeks: that gives us more time to explore an area without feeling like we have to be on the go constantly. This is the beauty of having complete control over my work schedule.

What about you?

Have you ever worked and traveled at the same time? What are your minimum operating requirements for feeling as though you are on top of your work? What do you want to know about how I work remotely?

Cover photo by Dan Cannon