Man transforms minivan into solar-powered office after layoff
Robert Mah is on a grateful journey that began after becoming a casualty of a major downsizing at work.
“You feel like you’ve been rejected,” Robert says. “Like you’re useless.”
He was also his family’s sole breadwinner, with three young kids.
“I had to make money.”
So Robert invested his severance in equipment for a basement office. While he began earning contracts, he started dreaming of a way to escape the confines of what he called “The Cave.”
“I always wanted to buy that old beater van and get it all set up,” Robert smiles. “So you can go cross-country and enjoy life.”
Robert started realizing that dream after noticing a solar panel on sale at his local hardware store. He figured it could power small appliances, like a microwave, hotplate and cooler.
After he attached the solar panel to the roof of his vehicle and hooked up the appliances, Robert began designing and building modular furniture that could fit inside the van, transforming from a bed and storage containers into chairs and tables.
“It’s like a little RV in the back of my minivan,” Robert smiles.
Once it was fully equipped to take a big trip, Robert and his wife hit the road. They drove from Ottawa to Victoria, fuelled by a post-layoff positivity.
“If you have a frame of mind that this is the worst thing that’s ever going to happen to me, that it’s going to get worse and worse, then that’s going to happen,” Robert says. “But if you think, how can I make a benefit from it? How can I turn it better?”
If you think like Robert did, you also furnish your mini-RV with a mobile office, including two computer screens, so you can keep working along your trip.
“You can connect to any machine anywhere in the world,” Robert says. “So why do I need to be inside a factory to control it?”
So why not do what he’s doing now? Why not operate manufacturing equipment in Ontario while parked beside the ocean in B.C.?
“Surprisingly my main contract right now is the company that laid me off,” Robert laughs.
Although it felt like one of the worst moments of his life back then, Robert is grateful it inspired some of the greatest moments of his life ever since.
“It was like the best thing to happen!”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.
1 killed, 3 injured including toddler, after Hwy. 417 crash in Ottawa
Ontario Provincial Police are responding to a fatal collision involving two vehicles on Highway 417 in Ottawa's west end on Tuesday morning.