12 months of van life living in my van for 12 months.
I can't believe it's been this long already.
It feels like just yesterday that I was flying up to Brisbane from Sydney in
Australia to finally get the van that I'd been looking for for so long.
So in today's video I'm going to share with you the good, the bad, the ugly,
the lessons that I've learned over the past 12 months and some of the things
that I would change if I was to start again.
[inaudible]
welcome back to my channel.
My name is Mitch Asser I'm a vanlifer and full time digital marketer running a
digital marketing business from my actual van and I live in a long wheel base
Mercedes sprinter camper van and it's been a full 12 months now.
I remember back in February, February,
not 2019 I finally found the van that I wanted and I did spend a little bit more
money than what I was hoping to. I was planning on spending a certain amount,
certain amount of money, and for you to learn about that,
you can check out this video where I talk about the, where.
I'll give you a tour of the van and talk about how much it costs.
You can watch that after this video's done.
Reason why I did is because it was everything that I wanted,
pretty much it looked good. Um, it was the right size. And not only that,
but I actually got a really good price.
I managed to get the girl down an extra at $10,000 compared to what she had it
on. So it was definitely worth it. And I'm super grateful. However,
there are a few things I will change that I would change. So firstly,
I'm going to give one thing that I would change and then I'll share a positive
and we'll just keep going back and forth between that.
So the first thing that I would change is the solar setup for a whole host of
reasons. Firstly,
it's not big enough for me to be running my business from here, uh, from,
from the van with enough power. Um, secondly though,
they didn't put on the solar very well.
So I did have a solar panel horror story,
which you can check out in this video as well.
I'll link it down below to check out after this where the solar panels nearly
blew off the roof entirely. Um, and secondly, um,
in this video I actually show you what I've been using instead for an extra
power source is because I have a whole host of reasons why I can't operate the
system that's actually in here and I had to come up with other ways instead of,
um, you know, working from the van so you can check those out as well.
So then probably that's definitely been the number one challenge over the last
12 months is having enough power.
And mostly because I use way more power than the average person.
I'm on my laptop anywhere from six to 10 hours a day, some days. Um,
so especially if there's no sun then that a solar panels don't have enough
chance to try it out. The batteries,
the inverters not being enough and so forth. So that's the first challenge. Now,
the first thing that I'm most happy about and like has been super proud and
grateful for. I just,
some of the amazing places I've been from down to the South coast of new South
Wales, you can check that out in this video.
It was probably my first blog that I ever did,
just showcasing the South coast from like Jervis Bay and all around that area.
Um, one of my favourite spots in the entire world, not just Australia,
but I've been to so many places of where there's amazing sunrises or sunsets.
Uh,
I've been to up and down the coast of new South Wales and the sort of the South
East Queensland, I mean,
living on the gold coast for about the last six months now.
And the van just takes you places where you can't go before or if you have been
there before, you can actually stay there for a longer time in the van.
And yeah,
I mean like you definitely can't be this lifestyle living the van life and like
getting,
having the opportunity to go wherever you want whenever you want is so cool.
And it's,
it's truly grateful that I do get to do that because of my work as well.
As long as I have an internet connection, I'm good to go. So yeah,
places like Lennox head and, and those types of places around Byron Bay,
it just being, yeah, it's truly amazing and I've loved every second of it.
Now challenge number two for me,
only started popping up in the last few months in this video.
I talk about the reasons why I'm paying for more parking this year.
And for most of the year, last year I was stealth camping, so I spent, you know,
90, probably about 300 days on the street in a row, um,
before I actually started paying for a power van parked to get off the street.
And um, yeah, so like I love self camping.
I still do that most of the time now, but I'm starting to pay for a lot of, um,
a lot more parking and caravan parks and stuff,
the stuff like that for a few different reasons.
And you can check that out in that video that I mentioned.
I'll link that down below as well.
The next challenge that I had was more of a mental one. In this video,
I talk about how it all became too much for a little bit of a period of time and
I realised that I had to make some changes to my lifestyle in order to allow me
to continue operating at that level,
but then this ties in directly with the next thing that I've been most grateful
for about living in the van is that it's forced me to slow down.
It's forced me to really look at my life and figure out what actually makes me
the happiest and for me,
I know that when I'm on my deathbed at a healthy 120 years old,
that I'm not going to be thinking about the times that I should have worked more
or that I should have been on my laptop more. All of those types of things.
I'm going to be remembering the moments where I travelled more,
where I have more adventures,
where I got the Seymour sunrises and sunsets where our surf was out in the ocean
surfing more.
So the living in a van has grounded me so much more than what I used to be.
I used to, I was the type of person that would be, um, you know, you,
you could call it a high performer,
but maybe I was just distracting myself with work for a whole host of different
reasons. And while there's a time and place to, um, work really hard,
if you want to do making massive impact in the world,
then there's also a time and place to take it easy and to, um,
have a little bit more fun doing the things that you really love and that really
connects you to who you really are. So, um,
the biggest thing that I always say to people first when they asked me what it's
like living in a van is like, I feel so much more grounded.
I'm forced to be putting my feet in the,
in the background every single day is the first thing I do when I step out of
the van.
Like I'm forced to be outside in the elements and to be a part of that you're,
when you're in the van, it's,
you have circadian rhythm really connects to the natural circadian rhythm of the
world of the earth as well. So when it's dark, you get tired when,
when the sun is rising and the,
and the birds start chirping first thing in the morning,
you wake up with the sunrise as well or completely naturally.
So you start to really feel a lot more in your body rather than,
you know, feeling a little bit, I guess, stuck in your head.
And so I'm truly grateful for that.
The final challenge that I've found is building community.
I guess the biggest thing that we face,
especially if we're travelling around a lot and especially me as a solo
traveller, is um,
having people that you really get build a strong connection with longterm.
Don't get me wrong.
I've met some really amazing people on my travels over the last few months.
I've had some really great connections and, um,
people that I'll probably stay in touch with for my entire life. However,
I've not really,
it's not really allowed me to build up that really solid group of people who you
can rely on at all times and who you can, you know,
who you're hanging out with every weekend and building that really strong,
longterm relationship with. Um, however, that's the life that I choose.
Right? And I've always chosen that for at least the last seven years. And, um,
it sort of aligns with my values have been, I've had been adventurous.
So what I've done and then,
and then this term also directly relates to the thing that I'm super grateful
for is what I've now done is I've positioned myself and my brand as a digital
nomad so that I can start to build a community of people,
at least online who are digital nomads as well,
or aspiring to live that life. So there are people who love adventure as well.
There are people who want to get out there and travel full time,
whether it's in a van or whether it's, you know, travelling by boat or,
or aeroplane, whatever they want to do maybe by car.
So building that community of like minded people is so important and it's,
it's obviously great to get that in person and you definitely need that.
But just having an online support system can also be really helpful as well.
And especially with, you know, things like zoom, um,
where you can do video conferencing all around the world.
Now it's allowed me to build,
starts establishing myself and my business internationally. Um, which was,
I mean I'm, I've always been great at that in my previous businesses, but, um,
I'm just so grateful that we can make that work. And, um,
if you are interested in becoming a digital nomad,
you just pop a comment down below and I will send you a link to the digital
nomad mastermind Facebook group that you can join and, and come and say hello.
There's, you know, a few hundred people in there now. It's super cool. So, yeah,
I mean you've, I guess like when it comes to community, um,
you just need to be a little bit more intentional about building that.
And not only that, there's um,
well there's always a van life gathering here and now I went to one this year on
the gold coast,
met some really amazing people and got to meet some people I was Instagram
friends with and we just chatted a couple of times on Instagram and I got to
meet some new friends as well who I've met up with after the gathering. So, um,
yeah, I guess it comes down to what are your choice, what if,
what are your priorities and your choices and how can you map that to, you know,
get what you really want.
So there are some of the positives and the negatives that I've had along the
way. Um, not only that,
I started creating YouTube videos around this over the last year as well.
Initially it was just a little bit of fun to sort of document some of the places
that I was going.
But I really enjoy creating the videos and I definitely don't consider myself to
be a an influencer or even a, a very good content creator.
However, I just enjoy it.
And if I look back on my life when I was in my early twenties I had no mentors
around me who are living the life that I desired.
The only people who who I was taking advice from were people who were pretty
miserable and didn't, we're not living on purpose whatsoever.
They were the people who were in the pub every weekend writing themselves off
because they didn't enjoy that light.
So by osmosis I fell into that type of lifestyle as well because that's what I
was around when I realised that I could take control of my own life and create
my own destiny and live life on my own terms,
I realised that I need to get around people who were doing that.
And the only way that I could do that back then was through videos like this and
purchasing programme, online programmes,
and going to seminars from these people who are living the life that I desired.
And that was really the,
one of the most defining moments in my life was realising that I could actually
do that. And if it,
if I didn't invest tens of thousands of dollars back then and continue to these
days, um, I definitely wouldn't be where I am now.
So the reason why I create videos and the reason why I'm getting really serious
about them this year, putting out two videos a week.
So Sundays we're talking Vanlife Sundays where I talk about my lifestyle in the
span.
And then Wednesdays we're talking digital nomad Wednesdays and digital business
Wednesdays, talking about YouTube channels on Wednesdays as well.
So if you're not at thrive yet,
definitely do that so you can stay up to date with them.
But the reason why I'm creating two videos a week is because I wanted to help
other people who feel like they're, they were in my situation back then,
just to give that inspiration out to two people, um,
so that they can live their life as well.
Because I'm so grateful for the life that I've lived. I'm truly blessed at,
and some of the experiences that I've had, I've, you know,
I lived in I think six or seven different cities.
I've travelled to more than 17 countries,
travelling to another five countries and next month I'm built two businesses to
six figures. Um, met a lot of amazing people along the way,
been to some amazing retreats. Um, like seriously,
I've had the best life. If I die tomorrow,
I die the happiest person alive even though sometimes my face doesn't actually
say that I'm the happiest person internally.
I'm always the happiest person ever. And um, yeah,
I'm just so grateful for the life that I live in.
It comes down because I've made the choices and not chase my dream and I want
other people to do that as well.
So if you are someone who feels like they need some inspiration to get out there
and live your life as well and make sure you subscribe because I promise you I'm
making it my mission to help more people get out there and live the same life as
well. So that is my plan moving forward. I'm not going anywhere. Yeah.
And I'm saying in this van I've made a lot of changes to make it more
comfortable.
You can check out some of the changes that I made in this video here to make it
more comfortable so that I can, um,
in a couple of months long I'm going to stop my trip around Australia and I'm
going to take you on that journey as well where we dive more into van life,
take you on a journey around the most amazing country in the entire world,
Australia, and also show you how I am building my brand on my new brand.
I've built a couple of businesses now to six figures and there's no doubt that
this one that eventually will get there as well.
And I'm going to take you on that journey and share the insights and behind the
scenes. So I'd love to hear from you. Was this video helpful? Um,
there's a lot of links that I, I know,
I realised that I linked up a whole host of other videos here for you,
but there's a lot of gold in those videos that I've created and the people who
are seeing this video have not taking the van full advantage of them just yet.
So it's really cool to go back and view my journey so that you can see, um,
you know,
sort of my thought process along the way over these last 12 months as I've been
living in my van. Uh, he in Australia living the van life Australia.
So, yeah, I'm super grateful. I'm so happy that you're here. Um,
feel free to DM me on Instagram at Mitch.Asser Or public comment down below.
I'd love to hear from you. I get back from everybody personally.
I get back to everybody personally. Some people get amazed by that,
but I definitely do. So, uh, thanks. I'm trying meet,
hit subscribe and I'll see you in the next video. Bye. Bye.