This is the Week

I will be picking up my van, that I will work remotely from.

In July 2019, based on my intuition, I took our brick-and-mortar company out of the office to work remotely. Moving everyone out of an office building and into a remote operation was considered risky. At the time, many people told me it wouldn’t work and that it wasn’t the right thing to do. It felt right to me.

Two months after the move in September, I got another intuitive hit to hire a videographer to attend all our courses to video them on location.

Six months later, COVID-19 arrived and forced everyone to work from home—something we had already done. Plus, the videos allowed my company to quickly get courses online to serve our customers, who were considered essential workers.

This happened before I knew I had the gift of foresight. So now, if I get a gut feeling to make something happen quickly, I do it. I have learned from experience to trust my instincts.

Last month, I had a gut feeling that I should live and work from a van—something mobile and self-sufficient. Part of my abilities requires me to be uninterrupted and follow a strict, clean diet, which is super strict and difficult to do when I am at home.

It's very green-oriented, consisting of leeks, broccoli, bokchoy or cabbage, spinach or kale, and tofu with a cup of rice. Often, I add some soy sauce mixed with some vegan mayo to form a bit of a sauce with whatever spices I choose. I am not a chef, so I chop this stuff up, throw it into a wok and cook. It’s like having a hot salad.

As you can see above, I have experimented with many green vegetables; however, they are not for me. I don’t eat fruit because the sugar in it causes me to crave sugar. I only have trace amounts of sugar. All processed food contains sugar, so it is difficult to avoid. I drink water and espresso (black)—no cream or sugar, and I prefer it cold. My coffee can sit all day, and I will still be sipping it.

I should note that this diet choice is for me only. It is very difficult to follow, except when I travel alone when I have no problem staying on track.

I will be heading to Montreal this week to pick up my Vanlife van. This van is specifically outfitted to be stealthy, meaning I could park it on a city street, have dinner, and spend the night. It will look like a company van parked on the side of the road versus a camper van or mobile home that looks like a camper van.

I am excited and nervous at the same time. Not a stressful nervous; just I have a lot to do, kind of nervous. Plus, everyone seems to be on holiday, which is problematic. I have only seen pictures of the van, but I believe this is correct. I will be travelling to Montreal by train with my wife. We will stay in town. While we are there, we may visit the Mirasee team. Then, we will get a first look at the new to-us van.

This van has the right interior to live in and do my work. I have ordered a Starlink router so that I can maintain my connection and do any work that is required of me.

I own my own company and have staff who are very good at what they do. However, I am a subject matter expert and often have to answer questions. I am also a visionary and have ideas for expansion. It's funny, but I also have this ability with other programs and companies. I am just given some facts about the company, and the information starts flowing. It’s pretty cool.

Back to the van. Everything I do seems to have many moving parts to make something happen. In this case, I will transfer my own money to my company in order to make the purchase. I will be funding a company asset through my corporation. When you do that, the company will then owe me the money back because the asset is owned by the company.

I have to transfer funds from my bank to another bank in the same city. This should be easily doable without a hold. If they try to hold it, I am liable to blow a gasket. I feel that in 2024, we should be able to do this. I will just have to call in some assistance from above to assist me in this transaction.

Last year, I had to transfer $1000 to a company in Spain. I told the bank that the receiving company needed to get $1000, no more, no less. It's 2024, not 1998. The company contacted me three full weeks later, saying they just received my transfer of $998.

I was pretty shocked by this, first that it took 3 weeks and secondly that it was short by 2 dollars. This was a WTF moment.

On Tuesday, we will catch a Go train to Toronto and then a Via Rail train to Montreal. We are taking the train just for fun, so we will need to carry out these transactions on Monday. Fingers crossed, we are able to do this all within this time frame. Because we are remote workers, we can work from anywhere, so time away isn’t a factor—except we do have cats, which are a huge factor in our lives. And yes, we could take the cats with us in the van; however, my wife would prefer to stay at our home. (that is not on wheels)

This will be an interesting time for sure as I move from living in an apartment to living full-time in a van. Travelling to the east or west coast is an enormous distance in Canada, so it is not the sort of trip I can make.

I thought I would go east first because I need to return home in November. There are some important dates that month. Then, I hope to head to the USA's west coast before winter arrives. My intention is to be away over Christmas. It would be my first time. I would love to be in a warm place at least once in my life over Christmas with enough time to acclimatize and not just arrive for a 2-week vacation.

The struggle with all of this will be the guilt of being away by choice, away from my wife and family over the holidays. Time will tell.