Work from Anywhere (WFA)

Work from Anywhere (WFA) Blog: Week 2 from Tucson, AZ!

Perfect patio and fire pit setup at our site

Perfect patio and fire pit setup at our site

Week 2 is in the books! I must say, work went pretty smoothly this week, with the exception of a couple issues I’ll talk through in a bit. Last weekend we made the 13 hour journey, over the course of two days, from Canyon Lake, Texas to sunny Tucson, Arizona. It’s been a beautiful 70 degrees during the day and it is certainly nice to stop working and walk out into the sunshine. Tucson is currently 2 hours behind the east coast (soon to be 3 because they don’t exercise daylight savings time), so I’m starting work around 6-6:30 AM and hanging it up around 2:30-3 PM. I love this schedule because it leaves so much of the day for me to enjoy the weather and hang out with my ladies.

Our Thor Freedom Traveler A32 in Tucson

Our Thor Freedom Traveler A32 in Tucson

Every afternoon, I try and take a walk around the RV resort to get a little cardio in and one thing I noticed is that I’m not the only one working. I’ve seen a handful of RVers clearly on business phone calls and even one guy with an entire desk setup outside. While I’m not that adventurous yet and prefer my large screen setup in the cockpit, I thought it was pretty cool. It further confirms for me the effect that technology is having on the way we do business, especially after that change has been amplified by COVID.

The “cockpit office”

The “cockpit office”

Overall, I’ve continually found myself obsessing over GB usage via cell. Yet again, the park Wifi is terrible, so I’ve relied entirely on Verizon’s service for connectivity. While this doesn’t surprise me, given the RV crowd isn’t usually concerned with accessing the internet, I think this will change in coming years. One downfall I’ve found this week is that my usage is much higher than in Texas. I’m averaging like 5 GB per day, compared to the 2.5 GB per day from the week before (Don’t forget I only have 60 GB a month from my hotspots and 5 GB trend puts me at 100 GB of total usage - or in other words…40 GB over my allotment). My total meeting time has been pretty consistent, so I’m actively trying to troubleshoot what is causing it. My gut tells me its a combination of the number of people on video calls (more people = more incoming data) and increased screen sharing this week. To combat this I’ve started turning off incoming video when it makes sense (really large meetings) and toying around with a low usage setting in the Microsoft Teams app - more on that next week.

One bright light in the usage saga is that I misunderstood how Verizon’s plan works. I thought my phone got a total data usage of 15 GB a month (including anything I use when not on WIFI). In reality, I get 50 GB of data usage from my phone (internet, gps, social etc) and 30 GB of usage when using my phone as an internet source for my computer. So, if worst comes to worse and I can’t tame the 5 GB usage per day, I should be able to sneak by.

Tucson, AZ

Tucson, AZ

And to end on an even brighter note, my work days have been pretty low stress. Which is the obvious goal here. Kailah and I plan every day for when I can’t be interrupted because I’m presenting, or facilitating, or need focused time to work on a deliverable. She’s the ultimate partner and completely understands what I need (it probably helps that she worked remotely for a company until August, 2020).

Our next stop is Twentynine Palms California, so we can explore Joshua Tree National Park. The nerves are creeping back up bit, as the location is more remote and I’m already thinking about connectivity. It will also be an additional hour behind the east coast, so I’ll be starting even earlier. But only time will tell.

Kyle

Connection Gear:

30 GB usage Verizon Jetpack MIFI 8800L

30 GB usage 5G MIFI M2100

30 GB usage utilizing my iPhone as a hotspot on the “Get More Unlimited” plan

Current usage trend: 5 GB / work day

Click here for our WFA Gear Page

Work From Anywhere (WFA) Blog: Week 1 in the RV

The anticipation and anxiety leading up to this first week of working from our RV was intense. I’ve never driven an RV (except when I drove from the lot to my house). I’ve also never operated an RV - who knew there was so much to it! And vehicle aside, I only know one person that works from their vehicle. I’m routinely on video calls, giving presentations and even digging into heavy data processes in Excel and BI tools. How could I possibly take my professional career on the road? As humans, we are programmed to fear the unknown. I can positively tell you that the unknown scared the shit out of me this time.

I’m hoping to use these updates to share my trials and tribulations on the road as I navigate working remotely from our RV. I want to discuss technically how I’m making it work (connectivity, space etc) and also how Kailah and I “make it work” as a team to make sure I meet my obligations. I’ll also link to my current gear that I use to stay connected.

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So lets get to it. My first week is at a beautiful RV park on Canyon Lake in Texas called Lake Pointe RV Resort. I can literally see the lake from my “mobile office”, as I have overtaken the cockpit of the RV. It’s actually a nice space, as the comfortable drivers seat swivels around to a table, where I place my laptop, extra large screen, keyboard, mouse etc. Before leaving home we purchased triple ply floor-to-ceiling curtains to “close me off” from the rest of the vehicle. While they don’t block out a lot of sound, they prevent distractions and offer a boundary to a very curious 3 year old.

Cockpit.jpg

When I was doing my research on connectivity at the park, I made sure that the Verizon coverage map blankets the resort in at least 4G LTE (5G is a plus, but it is still limited). I knew that if the park wifi sucked, I could at least connect via cell. This is where I learned my first lesson in RV working - the wifi at the parks/campgrounds/resorts are going to be slow at best. They are definitely not reliable enough to manage my workload from. Luckily (and with a bit of pre-trip research) I had purchased a couple of mobile hotspots from Verizon with 30 GB plans to make sure I’m always connected. These plans vary, but each line costs me around $45/month, plus the device fee (unless you buy it outright). As of this week, I’m running at about 2.5 GB per day. This is a lot of data, but it gets me in at about 50 GB for 20 days of work, so I finish the month with 10 GB to spare. I’ll keep everyone posted on how this trends.

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Overall, I think this has been a pretty successful week. My supportive colleagues have confirmed for me that they don’t see any real difference in my voice, or video over the cell data connection. The biggest factor for success has been Kailah and I’s communication. We chat in the morning to make sure she knows when I need to present to an audience and can’t have background noise from the girls, or when I need to be heads down and focused on something. Between this and the quality connection, I’ve been able to destress a bit.

Our next stop is Tucson, AZ. I’ll check back in from there for another update on how things are going. Fingers crossed for another relatively stress free week! If anyone has any questions, or topics they would like me cover, please leave a comment, shoot me an email at kyle@nowhereonearth.com, message us on Instagram @nowhereonearth or on Facebook.

Connection Gear:

30 GB usage Verizon Jetpack MIFI 8800L

30 GB usage 5G MIFI M2100

Current usage trend: 2.5 GB / work day

Click here for our WFA Gear Page