*May 2, 2019 Update: When we first started camping, I thought about RVing all the time and wondered what the challenges of a mobile office would be. I wrote this article after giving it a shot (using my RV as a mobile office) in our shiny new RV! Here is the updated article:
A couple of weeks ago, we went to Mountain View, Arkansas. If you’ve never gone, you should! It’s such a cute little town that just feels like home. I had been working tirelessly for a couple of weeks getting my ideas together for this website and just hadn’t had time to get the ideas online.
All the basics were getting set up on my site (learn how to set up your own website HERE), but I just hadn’t really done much of anything else to it. I knew I needed to but just couldn’t jump that hurdle.
The friends we were traveling with slept in that Saturday morning (quite impressively, I might add…for old people!), so without anything else to do, I decided to log in on the RV park’s wifi and give the mobile office RV living a shot!
MY MOBILE OFFICE – SO PRODUCTIVE!
Much to my surprise, I was SUPER productive in my mobile office!!! I got SO much done on the blog that I literally just couldn’t believe it. Maybe it was because I was so relaxed, or maybe it was because I just didn’t have any other cares in the world (like laundry, or what’s for dinner, or home renovation, etc.), but I’m telling you…I got A LOT done! Could it be it was because I was barefoot…HA?!
Since productivity was so good in the RV, I decided I would try doing it at home! These pics are of me ACTIVELY avoiding work with my super cute grand-dog!
I’ve come to love working in my mobile office SO much!!! I look forward to working from home now and don’t put it off as much.
Let’s get on with the tips…
MOBILE OFFICE TIPS
CREATE A CLUTTER-FREE WORK MOBILE OFFICE
There’s nothing worse than a cluttered workspace. I’m aware that space is limited even the most generously sized campers.
Freeing up a workspace is a MUST in a mobile office! We have a little camper, not much more than a bed, bathroom, kitchen, and dining/lounging area. Usually, we keep our table stowed away elsewhere in the RV which creates a lounging area/living room.
In fact, it feels silly to call it a living room. It’s tiny! When the camper is parked at home, we store all of our outdoor things (anti-gravity chairs, a folding table, an outdoor fan, etc.) inside the camper.
To create a mobile office in the RV, I have to move some of these things around. The workspace needs to be clutter-free and distraction-free.
GET COMFY IN YOUR MOBILE OFFICE
Ok, maybe the picture is a bit much, but I live in the southern U.S. This usually means turning on the air conditioner. There are literally about 2-4 weeks total during the whole year I’d go without AC or heat (more AC than heat!) in my mobile office.
Make sure you have lower back support and a cushion under your derriere if you don’t already have one. This is actually why I prefer to work in the camper, my home office is full of stressful things that need to be dealt with (do you sense the procrastination there?) and my kitchen chairs are hard, whereas my camper has padded seats.
I also dress comfortably…and I ALWAYS remove my shoes!
REMOVE DISTRACTIONS
Can you work with music? Crank it up or put on headphones. Do you prefer to work in silence? Put your phone away or set it to silent. If you’re not alone, ask your significant other to take a nap, or maybe take a walk, or run an errand.
At home, this is easy because my hubby is a sports fan. He can enjoy all the Sports Center he can stand while I work quietly in my mobile office.
While camping, he enjoys people watching. He sits outside while I work inside. This would also be a GREAT time to put your phone completely out of reach! It beckons us with every buzz, ring, or other notification…SO OBNOXIOUS!!!
PREP AHEAD OF TIME
This is SUPER important for me as I tend to be fairly A-D-D driven. One of the things I do to prep is that I start a Google Keep list for my ideas and/or random thoughts. This gives me a checklist to work from and helps me to stay organized.
If you don’t know about Google Keep (keep.google.com), you TOTALLY should! It’s available for both Androids and Apple products as an app, too. Check out your Play/App Store. I also use Google Docs/Drive for lengthier ideas (docs.google.com).
My theory on using Google products instead of the notepad that comes with every phone is that if your family is anything like mine, phones are accident prone. Google isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. As soon as you type on your phone, the list/doc/spreadsheet is automatically saved online. Should you lose your phone for any reason, all you have to do is replace the broken device, install the apps, and log in.
This is my mobile office SECRET WEAPON!!! Google is YOUR FRIEND!!!
AIM FOR A PAPERLESS MOBILE OFFICE
Maybe this should go without saying…I’m not sure. I’m all about using as little paper as possible. For one reason, I DO NOT have space AT ALL for unnecessary paper laying around in my mobile office.
I’m a realtor in my real life. SO. PAPER. INTENSE!!!! It makes me NUTS!
Fortunately, my broker’s office has recently gone paperless. This has been an almost spiritual experience for me as I can do almost EVERYTHING from my mobile office…anywhere in the world!
I honestly believe if I was on the road, I would probably read up on apps like THESE for iPhone or THESE for Androids to scan in documents.
Also, develop a great organizational system on your computer or better yet, on an external hard drive like THIS ONE…but that’s another post altogether!
You should also think about being able to scan documents with a portable scanner like THIS ONE that doesn’t take up too much room. When a scanner like this in your mobile office, you can fax documents from an online service anywhere in the world.
GET UP AND MOVE
This is as important working from a mobile office as much as it is if you were working from anywhere else…office, home office, mobile office! Walk around. Stretch. Drink a glass of water. Rest your eyes, blink, use eye drops!
Regardless of what your job is, this is a must-do. As a matter of fact, I’ll be right back! LOL!
I know this is by no means a comprehensive list. What have I missed? Be sure to post your thoughts and comments below!
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