10: Working Remotely From A Van With Digital Nomad Chelsea
Digital Nomad and van-lover Chelsea talks about the perks of working remotely from her van. She built her online business in website design while exploring the beautiful corners of Australia. Chelsea combines her office on wheels with her home office. She has found the perfect “balance” between working and travel and has the best of both worlds. In this episode, you’ll learn how she built her online business and tips about living the nomad lifestyle for the run.
“I have got the best of both worlds. It’s really great because I can come into the office, and then I can go and just jump in the van and drive north or south…”
How Chels became a digital nomad
At 18, Chelsea began her nomad journey when she graduated high school and decided to drive across the country in the summer. Since then, her love for traveling has continued to grow as she lives in a part-time van to explore every corner of the world. After high school, she dropped out of her university nursing program to pursue her photography and travel passion.
Building an online business in web-design and social media
She makes a living through web design, social media strategies, and SEO without any college degree. She agrees that many of her communication, time management, and organization skills come from her experiences at University and working in fine dining.
She has been running her travel and photography business part-time from her van and part-time from her house for three years now. This allows her to feel the security of having a home established somewhere. But at the same time, when she feels bored or in need of adventure, she hops on the van, and off she goes for a few weeks. As she calls it, “the best of both worlds.”
Challenges of the van life and finding balance
Even though the van life looks glamorous on social media, the reality can be very different. Chelsea faced many challenges, such as the separation between home and work/travel. She realized that she had to find a balance between the two to make it work. Chels also talks about the mindset shift in the episode. For example, to be disciplined with her work hours and time management. Another challenge was to build the van in a specific way so she could be comfortable working inside, and there was power.
Essential belongings & relationship with material stuff
When she started this lifestyle, Chelsea mentioned that she was one of those who had too many clothes and other stuff. Today she travels with a backpack and a carry-on enjoying the minimalist lifestyle. As a non-materialist person with a minimal amount of space, Chelsea shares her essential tech belongings for her home office and van.
Must-haves for her home office:
Sit-stand desk because she wants to be able to go from sitting to standing
The second screen helps her work, and everything is more visual
A laptop stand and a separated keyboard and mouse
Airpods (no cables getting in the way while working)
An external hard drive is a must for her.
USB to attach her laptop to her second screen
Must-have items for her remote van life:
USB cord
Phone charger
Power cord
Quick takeaways from Chelsea’s episode
Try to find your passion instead of going for the safest option
This lifestyle is a process, and you don’t have to go all in at once.
You can find a balance as a part-time nomad/ part-time house owner
Listen to your personal need and how you can reach them step by step
Remote Work: An Emerging Digital, Productive, and Enjoyable Lifestyle
Remote work is a working style concept that occurs beyond the traditional office space. Essentially, individuals can conduct their work anywhere within the world; there is no designated environment.
Visualize this: skip the extensive commute and heavy 9-5 work hours, and take your work wherever you desire. This includes working from home, cafes, coworking spaces, and more. If you’re working from home, you can maximize your break times by going for a run or doing a short yoga session. Essentially, people benefit from customizing their work schedules by combining their professional and personal lives.
A cultural shift has occurred in which society has constructed new norms. People now believe that an appropriate workplace has no limits. Remote work provides people the freedom to build their definition of their working space.
Seven Benefits of Remote Work
Hybrid option: Commute to in-person meetings once a week and work remotely for the rest of the week. Some companies offer this type of work. But, always read the description because companies might appear “remote” when they’re not.
Pro tip: when searching for these jobs on LinkedIn, pay attention to your filter. Go to filter → , click on-site → , select “remote” and/or “hybrid.”
Location flexibility: Employees can either work from home or work remotely in a new place every day.
New perspectives and connections: You can expand your professional network and achieve a global understanding through traveling as you are constantly exposed to new people.
Gaining back time: No more time is wasted on commuting. Instead, you can go for a walk during your breaks and spend more time with your family. Also, some companies offer commuting compensation, or you can negotiate for office supplies at home.
Passion is revived for the job: When employees work at different places such as cafes, coworking spaces, or have a travel lifestyle (digital nomads), they are motivated to sustain this lifestyle they’re comfortable with.
Better wellbeing: Commuting leads to stress. Hence, eliminating commute also decreases stress as remote workers are posited the ability to work wherever and whenever they please. Happier and healthier employees result in more productive work and motivation towards their companies.
Adaptable lifestyle: Can simultaneously focus on personal matters and pursue further education at the same time. Parents could also balance their time with children and work.
The Different Types of Remote Workers
At digital nomads daily, we identified and described three main types of remote workers: the remote worker, the remote freelancer, and the remote entrepreneur. It is imperative to choose the right job that fits your remote lifestyle. We provide its differences for you to choose wisely. Choose the right job that fits your remote lifestyle.
The Remote Worker
What differentiates the remote worker from the other types is that it comes with fixed salaries, company benefits, and stability. Even if the work is remote, work schedules are not always flexible. It depends on the job and the company’s policies.
The Remote Freelancer
Freelancers don’t stick to a fixed job as they work with multiple clients and get assigned various projects. Companies hire them depending on the skillset or specific services they offer. While their schedules can be more flexible, their admin time can rise. Acquiring those clients is not an easy task, and it can be very unpredictable.
The Remote Entrepreneur
If you go remote, you need to lock in investment and a solid business plan. There may be a lot of flexibility and freedom when running your own online business, but it comes with endless hard work on the clock. Ensure that going remote will be the best lifestyle for your business.
On our Remote Jobs page, you can find an overview of all kinds of remote jobs and the skills needed for the job. We also interview digital nomads on our podcast and answer many common questions surrounding the nomad lifestyle.
Tips to Become a Remote Worker
This way of living is possible for anyone regardless of their life stage.
Start as a Remote Freelancer
When your freelance work is conducted online, this is the most precise position to transition into remote work. Check if your in-person meetings are necessary and if they can move remotely. Start with short trips and feel it out. Then, you can take longer trips and become fully remote while traveling the world.
Join a company and get a full-time remote job
Do your extensive research and know the ins and outs of remote work before persuading your boss. Consider your working style and professional role. Figure out how you want to incorporate it into your routine – do you want to do it once a week? For the entire year?
Start your online business and become a remote entrepreneur
Depending on your company’s services, weigh out the pros and cons of working remotely with your team. Does your company require a physical location to serve its customers? Online service businesses usually can go remote as they don’t manage physical goods like stocks and supplies.
Discover the Best Version of Yourself
As technology progresses and evolves, the remote work revolution will keep flourishing. There will be countless opportunities for individuals to take their work anywhere they want – either that’d be home or a new location daily. This includes any profession, whether that is tech or healthcare and law. Don’t be afraid to explore what possible experiences await.
You might excel further when you live life under your conditions. Start researching and discovering and creating the best work environment for you to produce the best results! If you would like to learn more about working remotely from real digital nomads, tune in to the Digital Nomads Daily Podcast. Click here to see all episodes or follow behind the scenes digital nomad stories on Instagram @digitalnomadsdaily
Travel South America And Work Remote With The New Digital Nomad Visa of Brazil
Digital Nomad Visas are hot and happening! More countries are offering remote work visas. Recently we received the news about a new visa on the horizon – the Digital Nomad Visa of Brazil
After visas for digital nomads were released in Central America, in Mexico and Costa Rica, Brazil is the first country in South America who introduced a special visa for digital nomads. As of 24 February 2022, it is official, the Brazilian government will be allowing temporary people to enter their country and stay longer with a remote work visa.
Like every other country, Brazil has also suffered economic damages caused by Coronavirus. Considering the size of the country and the poverty the country is facing, the Brazilian government has modified immigration rules granting temporary visas to digital nomads. Attracting citizens with well-paid jobs from other countries, this visa for digital nomads could help boost and contribute to the country’s economy. It’s a strategy that has become popular and more countries offering remote work visas is growing.
What you need to know about the Digital Nomad Visa of Brazil
Information of visa
This visa allows foreign citizens who are employed by an outside company, to be domiciled in Brazil and work remotely, without the need of local employer sponsorship.
Length of visa
The visa for digital nomads is granted for one year. However, it can be extended for one additional year if the applicant keeps on with the criteria imposed. Which of course includes an impeccable criminal record. If you are staying longer than 6 months in Brazil you might need to enquire about a criminal record in Brazil as well. This is done at the police station (Police Federal)
Required income for the remote work visa: Applicants must have a minimum monthly income of USD 1,500 or an available bank balance of USD 18,000 when applying for the visa. This income must be proven to come from an international organization or overseas employer, through employment or similar documentation.
Other visa requirements for digital nomads
Applicants must have private medical insurance valid in Brazil.
They also must submit a clear criminal record from their country of origin translated either to Portuguese or English.
Where to get the nomad visa of Brazil:
This visa for digital nomads can be obtained once in Brazil or through a consular process. The approximate time for the visa to be processed is more or less four weeks
Remote work visa costs:
Many countries offering remote work visas are still figuring out what the best way to approach this is since it’s fairly new. This is why the costs of Digital Nomad Visa of Brazi land fees are not clear yet. Soon these costs will be announced as the Brazilian government is creating so to speak package deals for couples and families.
07: Overcoming Fears and Building Community with Digital Nomad Magali
Magali Bejar is a technical remote product manager. While taking the leap into the digital nomad lifestyle three years ago, she has encountered many challenges as a female solo traveler. In this episode, she talks about how she handles her fears, the importance of saying yes, and how she gets out of her comfort zone.
“Just show up and say “Hey, how are you? I’m from Argentina.” That first step usually takes a lot of energy….”
Biggest challenges as a solo-female digital nomad
Magali knew that her digital nomad journey would also have a lot of challenges. In this episode, she shares how hard it was at the start. One challenge was not having anyone around that could give her tips or share personal experiences she could learn from. Going through all the challenges on her own also became expensive. The challenges that she encountered were:
Taking the first step to meet people: one of the things that still make Magali so uncomfortable every time she travels is not knowing anyone. Her solution, even though it can take a lot of energy and motivation, is to convince herself of going to events, meet-ups to get to know new people.
The time-zone difference: she works with remote teams and has a remote worker and traveler she always has to be aware of the time differences.
Learning and adapting: As a solo traveler she keeps working on herself and focusing on routines that help her to feel safe and help her grow.
Practical tips to take the first step for making new friends
It’s never easy to take the first step but you kinda have to if you want to make new nomad friends. Getting out of your comfort zone and putting yourself out there is complicated for almost every single digital nomad. For Magali, this is one of the most difficult situations while traveling. Getting somewhere new and not knowing anyone, not having plans, or even not knowing where to go to meet them. Therefore, as a person who struggles with this more often than not, she has some tips for all:
Say yes! Yes to any event you find online, to any co-working space, any meet-up you find out about.
Just remember that we are in the same boat. We are all alone and everyone wants to make new friends.
Co-working spaces that have a large community are a great way to meet new people. You can get a short-term pass and join all events to meet new people.
When traveling somewhere new, go on Goole and type “city that you are at + digital nomads”. You will get some Facebook groups, blogs and best meet-up places.
Meeting new people when you are on a tight budget
Many nomads who are just starting have a travel budget. Our host Nienke Nina had a tight budget but that didn’t stop her from building community. So, she decided that the best way to meet people fast was to invest in a one-month subscription to Dojo Coworking in Bali. That month she showed up to every event, talk, party, dinner, meet-up and created nomad friendships for life.
Traveling as a solo female digital nomad
As a woman born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Magali is very aware of what is happening around her. She developed a sense of danger. Because of this she always prioritizes her health, her passport her money, and keeping her cards safe. As sad is might sound, it did give her the advantage to take the necessary actions whenever she travels. Luckily Magali has had no infortunes as a solo female traveler!
How to handle fear
Starting this journey with a lot of fears and doubts it’s completely normal. Many people experience so much fear before they even start and end up not giving the digital nomad lifestyle a try. Magali describes this fear as a big gray cloud in her mind. The cloud blocks you from understanding what is going on and you will hold on to that fear. To step away from this fear she uses a method where she’ll write down everything that she worries about. She points out the details and by doing this she identifies her fears and can separate fear from reality. With this information, she can take precautions and don’t let fear get in her way.
Routine that Magali follows to help this lifestyle
Many digital nomads follow daily routines. This could be a morning routine and an evening one before bed. Creating a routine keeps you sane and helps you adapt to a new location. Key elements in Magalies routine are:
Sleeping +8 hrs
Drinking 3L of water every day
Swimming or any type of exercise
Keeping a journal and writing everything that she is grateful for. It helps her realize everything that she has and how hard she has worked for it.
If you want to know more about morning routines, we interviewed Michael Saukulak about the power of morning routines.
How to make working online easier and more pleasurable
Working remotely has numerous perks, but it also takes a lot of process and energy to make it successful. Not only for yourself but for the people you work with. The last thing you want is to be a burden to someone else.
Magali is part of a remote team with people from different countries and cultures. As enriching as that can be, there are always some challenges. She shared some tips to help her work online and combat these challenges.
Overcommunicate: always strive for clarity around tasks and projects.
Make sure that everything is available for everyone all the resources, and information, and that it’s online available.
Quick takeaways
Get out of your comfort zone and say yes!
We’re all on the same boat and all want to make friends and have the best experience possible.
Find work in 2022 with the best remote job platform for you
Working from home and finding a remote job is what many people seek. Working remotely not only gives you more freedom to work from home but it can be an improvement in your overall health. This new way of working is a rapid change in the workforce. Therefore finding remote work can be very stressful and overwhelming. In this article, we share a list of 15+ best remote job platforms to help you find a remote job.
This is one of the most famous job boards. Nowadays it holds more than 20,000 remote job and digital nomad postings. With more than 60 job categories to choose from, which include full-time, part-time, freelance gigs, and careers with any experience level.
An effortless and intuitive online remote job platform, which lists jobs in development, customer service, HR, marketing, and design. You can select if you’d like a permanent position inside a company or prefer a short-term position.
Is one of the biggest remote work-from-home communities around… It works with big companies such as Amazon, Basecamp, and Google. This virtual job board includes various positions from web design, programming, marketing, customer service, and more.
This remote job platform is exclusively for remote job openings. The intuitive filter lets you choose between the entry-level, type of paying, full/part-time, and, freelance positions. You can find all types of job categories like customer service, recruiter, sales jobs, teaching, and much more.
Remote Ok is an online job platform that focuses exclusively on remote jobs and work from home opportunities. You can seek jobs based on job types, filter through tags for specific requirements plus your experience level.
This remote work job board works with big companies such as Trello, WordPress, and Zapier. A lot of the job positions are U.S based, but it also includes positions that work from anywhere. This website allows you to upload your resume and this makes it easier to be seen by potential employers.
This remote job platform is specific for remote freelancers, perfect if you are a digital nomad or working from home. It is a paid service that, based on preferences you set up, sources freelance jobs from the web, and delivers them directly to your inbox. They are high-quality leads and you just have to apply.
This site features freelance remote jobs in a wide range of categories, such as developers, copywriters, sales, marketing, and virtual assistance. Some of the companies that this website works with are Dropbox, Airbnb, Microsoft, and Zendesk.
This remote job platform is for freelancers focuses more on punctual-small jobs or “gigs”. It’s a great way to start getting into the industry, meeting new clients, and a way to build your portfolio.
Here there are more than 44 million employers and freelancers connected from all over the world. It’s one of the biggest freelancing marketplaces.
The downside of using these large Freelancer websites is that you compete with a global community of freelancers, including lower-wage countries. This makes it harder to find gigs that pay well. The platforms are aware of this and they created features to improve your profile. For example, anyone looking for a freelancer can see how many jobs you completed via de platform. Our piece of advice is to put your eggs in one basket and use more than one platform.
The Remote Woman is relatively new but we heard some great things about it!. It connects women to remote positions for female-friendly companies. They have several categories including developer roles, marketing, design, sales, and customer support.
It was born to help moms stay active in the workforce. It helps women have a remote job or work from home which allows them to be closer and more present in their house.
This is centered on helping women find remote jobs, most of them are in the tech industry, but they count on more opportunities. Positions go from accounting to analytics, developers Working with companies like Deloitte, BuzzFeed, and Expedia.
This remote job platform offers hundreds of new positions in categories like design, operations, and IT. One of the great advantages of using Pangian is that you can be part of their online community.
It’s perfect if you are a freelancer looking for a remote job in categories like UX designer, web designer, illustrator, or product designer. Aside from using Dribbble to find remote positions, the company also has a great remote work culture! You might want to head over to the careers page and see if they have any job openings.
Best job posting sites to use when hiring for startups
VentureLoop is the leader in startup jobs worldwide. They work with venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark Capital, Sigma Partners, and VantagePoint. Perfect to start your remote work lifestyle.
Also known as Angellist is one of the most used online remote job search platforms for people that want to work in startups. Startups from all over the world join this platform and by using the filters you can narrow down a list to your preferences. Here you can find not only remote jobs but as a startup owner you can connect with potential investors, CEO’s CFOs, and more.
How to find a remote job on LinkedIn?
If you are not on LinkedIn yet, you definitely want to change that. LinkedIn is a professional online platform that helps you connect with people from all over the world. Once you created a profile you can follow pages and join groups. LinkedIn doesn’t sound that exciting for many people but you can see it as an online resume and search engine for remote jobs. On LinkedIn, you can specifically search for remote jobs, check out company pages, and find out if you have any connections with people inside your desired company. If you are a freelancer you can share your work and updates so people get to know what your superpower is.
Ready to find your remote job in 2022?
If your goal is to work from home or start your way up as a digital nomad by getting a remote job, this is the right time! There are so many remote job platforms and remote opportunities, it’s a matter of starting to look in the right ones, and sticking to it. Another great tip that we want to share is that you invest some money in getting the premium version in a couple of them when you are starting. Other great ways to find remote jobs are Facebook groups for digital nomads and freelancers and updating your LinkedIn Profile. Commit to those platforms, apply to the jobs that you are passionate about, and you will see results.
