Home Office Highway, a Digital Adventure that reveals how to workation from the open road, will travel from Florida to Chicago in Summer 2009.

The Midwest saw 6.7 million travelers last summer. In ‘09, travelers will see the tools needed to transform a hotel, lake house, sedan, minivan - or RV - into a perfect workplace for the home officer, road warrior, teleworker or parent. Check back often to learn more!

Vocation meets Vacation on HomeOfficeHighway!

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Home Office Highway was about using portable tools like a broadband access wireless Internet card and a laptop to tap into the “cloud” that computing is becoming.

But what if the cloud followed you around like (not to pick a lousy metaphor here) the cloud that surrounded Pig Pen in Peanuts. Toyota and Apple have partnered to ponder a solution that will bring ultimate portability.

Trend watcher and domainer Owen Frager at Frager Factor put it this way: “The vehicle is designed for a buyer group whose unique combination of lifestyle activities and vehicle needs requires a compact pickup offering good fuel economy, advanced functionality, maneuverability and unique styling in a durable package suitable for an active lifestyle … But here’s the juicy part. According to sources close to the review, the car will also launch the in-dashboard ME.COM cloud-access panel from Apple … the ME control panel would become the hub of all activity and provide secure access to any passenger’s server-based applications, data, mail, calendar and credentials and download to a hand-held device…” Read More »

OK, so I can get a bit philosophical when discussing Henry David Thoreau and the implications of travel, home office and family life. Listen as I chat with Rich Roffman and Wanda Myles of The Rich Roffman Show.

When I first saw the RV we’d be driving for Home Office Highway, I wondered how I’d make the most of what was by all accounts a miniature space.

Some concepts and practices fell right into place — like using the Mobile Office Workmate or keeping clutter to a minimum. And some were learned, and depended upon the tools we had on hand.

Check out this video to see two examples of how I used off-the-shelf devices to maximize available space.

Home Office Highway and the virtual office is all about technology. Sure, cooking burgers on a grill doesn’t take much in the way of high-tech gizmos — unless you bought your spatula at Hammacher-Schlemmer.

But this blog has been written on a laptop connected to the Internet by a USB device that delivers broadband Rev-A through-put from almost any location — an RV park, at the base of Stone Mountain in Georgia, or as we drive along I-95 toward Massachusetts. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or you telework / telecommute, tech is your toolbox.

If you’re a tech marketer, the secret of successfully putting high-tech gadgetry in the hands of consumers (especially if you don’t have an IT staff behind you) is making it accessible to folks in a non-threatening, high-touch venue. The chance to play with the latest handset, or demo some new device, or ask “Like Duh!” questions without getting some “You Silly Consumer” look in response is the answer.

Call it the “Evolution.”

Read More »

“The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure.”

American author, essayist, poet, naturalist, transcendentalist, civil anarchist, abolitionist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote this sentence in the mid 1800s, from a place not far from where I’m writing these words today. I’m in Littleton, Massachusetts, less than 10 miles from Walden Pond.

I’ve long read and followed Mr. Thoreau’s work. That passage hangs on my wall and is a central piece of my work-at-home philosophy — and that I espouse when speaking to fellow entrepreneurs. In modern speak, it’s akin to, “Work smart, not hard.”

Yet I’ll admit: I had no idea how close we’d come to the place where he lived, worked and died, from 1817 to 1862. We’re less than five miles from Concord, his home — that is, when he wasn’t in the vast woods nearby.

Seeing the sign for Walden Pond State Recreation Area yesterday, I nearly had to pull over and explore. Yet the hour was late, and we needed to pitch camp (OK, so we’re in a camper - “pitching” camp means plugging in the power, water and cable)… Read More »

Coral Springs, FL (March 31, 2008) – Think you can’t take a month-long holiday and still keep your business or family finances from taking a permanent vacation? Think again. This summer, Home Office Highway: A Digital Adventure – will hit the road to prove vacation and vocation can travel hand in hand.

Setting off July 4th weekend in a recreational vehicle packed with the latest small office technology, Jeff Zbar and his family will showcase just how productive the modern family can be when traveling the nation’s highways. Wife, Robbie, will manage the family’s home finances. Their kids will stay connected with friends. And Zbar, a widely published technology columnist and author, will chronicle the adventure each day in blogs and videologues as the RV travels from up the Eastern Seaboard – and back again.

“We take a family road trip each summer, so I’m used to mixing vacation and work. This year I got the idea to share my experience with others, and show that through technology, you can leave home for vacation and take the office with you,” said Zbar, creator of the site ChiefHomeOfficer.com. “That’s how Home Office Highway was born.” Read More »

Are you a mobile home officer? Think you need to work from a home office 9-to-5 to qualify? Think again…

If you run a business from home, then you can be a mobile home officer. If you telework — working a few days each week or month from a home office for a boss someplace else, you can be a mobile home officer.

If you just want to take a stress-free vacation — one that gives you the ability to do a little work comfortably from the road — then you can be a mobile home officer.

Home Office Highway isn’t just for home officers. It’s for anyone who uses technology to improve their workstyle. It’s about laptop computers and wireless broadband connections. It’s about checking email from a campsite in the Smoky Mountains, or working at dawn while watching the sun rise over the Jersey Shore.

It’s about taking the family on the road in a vacation all can enjoy — while mom and dad work a bit and feel less guilty about their getaway.

A marketer recently commented that their audience isn’t “home office,” so Home Office Highway wasn’t for them. This tour isn’t just about entrepreneurs who work from home. It’s about anyone who wants to work and live from the road — doing a little work, journaling about their adventures, even paying their bills online and staying connected with family — from an office on the road.

I just happen to work from home. And this summer, my home — and home office — will be on the road…