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If you are able to work remotely and like to camp, then it’s likely that you can work while you’re camping: welcome to "workamping"!
From calls to emails, zoom meetings, writing, planning and so on, there is a lot you can accomplish while enjoying the great outdoors. I’ve been doing this for several years, and I have several pointers for work campers including one can’t-miss tip for first timers.
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Hey everybody, Simon from Lake Hub. Today we're going to be talking about how to
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work and camp at the same time with your family. Now I've been self-employed for
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about a decade. I've been enjoying the kind of lifestyle of camping and
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working to kind of at the same time for about the last three or four years with
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my family. I have some small kids, pop-up camper, and I really like it. I think it's
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one of the perks of being self-employed and in this new era of so many people
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being able to do work remotely and having the ability to be able to do
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things like that. I think it's a great time to share some helpful tips on how
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I found to work and camp at the same time or work camp. So what I'm going to
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talk about is going to be your workspace, your environment, a few helpful tips, and
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then one critical tip for your first time out that I don't want you to miss
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So the first thing to consider is what type of work are you doing? Now that
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could range from computer work, phone calls, reading, writing, programming. If you're watching this video then you probably already considered that it's
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possible for you to do your job. I wouldn't recommend it for a carpenter or
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an electrician or something like that, but if you're in remote sales, if you're
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a middle manager, it might be possible. You know, you really have to consider that for yourself. There are a few limitations. One of those is almost
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always going to be power source. The second is going to be internet
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connectivity. So if your job requires, you know, some type of phone
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laptop, then those are going to be your biggest concerns no matter where you're
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at. I made the mistake last year of booking a campsite for about four or
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five days, planned on work camping, showed up, no power, no power. So it was
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a mad scramble. It was this kind of harebrained solution of solar panels and
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12-volt batteries and it was a lot more stressful than it had to be
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if I just paid a little more attention to what we were doing when we booked. So
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that's something really critical to consider. You also want to pack accordingly. So I have a setup that I, you know, I've had basically a briefcase, a
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hardshell briefcase. I recommend whatever you do to make it, you know, kind
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of a hardshell container. It could be a big tote bin. It could be, you know, a
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briefcase or like a Pelican case. Something to protect all your equipment
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and make it packable in a way that you can put everything that you normally
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would need in there and get up and go. I recommend after your first couple times
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you'll figure out what exactly what piece of equipment you need to take with
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you every single time. Make a list of everything required. Every charger, every
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pencil, every pad of paper, sticky notes, whatever you need to do your job while
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you're out on the road. Make a complete list of that. Tape it to the inside of
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the lid and just check that before you go. Pack it all up and you're gone. That's
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the best way to do that. Another thing to consider is what is your work
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environment when you are out on the campsite. For instance, it's hard to take
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a phone call in the wind. So if you have, you know, if you're camping in a
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tent, then you can duck into the tent to take a phone call. But make sure that if
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you're expecting a call to be ready for that so you're not zipping and unzipping
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and have wind blasting into your phone while you're trying to manage that for
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the first few seconds you're on the call. A little bit of planning can go a long
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way. Sunlight can be a problem if you are if you're working on a laptop computer
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I've found that you have to sometimes you have to you just have to blast it
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the brightness all the way and get in the shade just to be able to see the
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screen. So if you have a camper, you know, the bigger camper, the more reliable and
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more comfortable it's going to be for establishing a workspace. If not, then
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find some shade. Get out of the sun if you can. If you're blasting your
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brightness, it's going to drain your battery a little bit faster. So make sure you have an extension cord and get some power to it. That sort of thing. In the
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wintertime, it's really really really hard to type when it's cold. You don't
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really don't think about that. But when you're outside and you're like, okay I'm bundled up, it's cold outside but that's okay. You know, I'm bundled up. You take
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your gloves off, you start typing, you can last about four or five minutes before these things are frozen and you can't stand it anymore. So fingerless gloves or
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again, planning a little bit of shelter, get out of the wind, things like that
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Just think of it. Think through all the details and it'll come with
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experience too. The final thing that's a little bit a little bit more tricky and
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nuanced is when to work. You know, especially if you're with a spouse, you
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know, with some friends or with your kids, it can be a little bit challenging to
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actually establish boundaries and carve out the right amount of time throughout the day in order to actually get some actual real work done. So to me
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that can be both a blessing and a curse. Now it can be a little bit tricky to
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manage and you feel like maybe you're missing out a little bit. Like it can
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kind of feel like you're working on a vacation, but you have to really look at
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it from the other side that you get to vacation while you work. And as long as
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you keep that perspective you can kind of manage those boundaries in a healthy
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way and still take advantage of the perks. Take your kids fishing on your
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lunch break. Go on a little hike. Take a break. Enjoy some sunshine. That's what
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it's all about. That's why you're work camping in the first place, right? So
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here's my tip for first-timers. No matter what you do when you work camping, the
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very first time you go, go as close to home or office as you can. Give yourself
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a little bit of flexibility to be able to shoot home, shoot to the office in a
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pinch, grab something you forgot, or just completely bail out on the whole thing
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if it's not working out for you. Go get some work done. Come back and camp. So
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leave yourself the latitude to be able to do that the first time around or at
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the very least be able to sneak out to a coffee shop that has Wi-Fi. Be able to
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download something or or tackle a Zoom meeting with some connectivity that you
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may not have at the campsite. So there's a helpful tip. If you've got more tips
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I'd love to hear them. If you've got a little bit of experience, drop a comment
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Let me know and I'd love to hear about that. So stay tuned. Next time we're gonna
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be talking about remote school at the campsite
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