8 Tips for Success When Freelancing On the Road
Posted June 30, 2009 in Lifestyle, Productivity 27 Comments »
Let’s face it, most of us freelancers do what we do in order to have the potential to work and play on our own terms. I love setting my own hours so I can enjoy life, and I also love slogging away on projects that I’m really passionate about. One aspect of play that many of us want to take up is to be able to freelance and travel at the same time.
In fact, that’s exactly what I’m going to be doing in a few months when I start my 1 year (hopefully) journey around the world. I don’t start this adventure for a while, but it’s good to have everything organized before I back my bags and take off.
In order to help me prepare for my upcoming trip, and to provide a resource for any of you who might be traveling and working in the future, I decided to put together this checklist of what you’re going to need when traveling.
Some of the following items are more important than others, and some may not apply to you. I wanted to put together a list that covered as many situations as possible without being too bloated. If there’s something I missed or you have your own suggestions, please share them in the comments!
1. Store Your Passwords & Bookmarks Online
If you’re anything like me, you’re currently using Firefox which stores all your passwords and you have a nice line of bookmarks at the top of your browser. If you’re lucky, you’re using a laptop and this will stay the same when travelling.
Personally, I like to have backups for this kind of thing whether I’m ‘bringing them with me’ or not. You never know when you might need to use an internet cafe or your hardware might fail. As an alternative to having your passwords saved in a browser, you could try an online program like Passpack to remember them. I also keep some of my passwords in a document that is hosted on one of my servers. If you go for the latter option, make sure the document is in a safe place.
As far as bookmarks go, I like to use Xmarks (formerly Foxmarks) that imports my Firefox bookmarks for me whenever I load a clean version and I keep my links on Delicious just in case.
2. Organize Your Email
Until recently, I never gave organizing my email much thought. I can usually find what I want in a few minutes and I have thousands of emails in my inboxes so I knew pretty much everything I needed was there.
When traveling, it’s likely that your time is going to be quite limited, and I can think of better ways of using it than deleting junk emails or getting distracted by social media messages. Some good tips on organizing your email include:
- Creating a label or folder and putting your important emails there
- Turning off the notification settings on your most active sites i.e. Facebook / Twitter
- Unsubscribe from email lists you no longer care about
- Apply filters so certain emails automatically get labeled / categorized
Anything that you can do to minimize your time sifting through messages can only be a good thing.
3. Do As Much as You Can Before You Leave
You don’t travel in order to spend as much time on your work as you could when you’re at home or in an office. Because of this, it’s a good idea to really put the time in for around a month before you begin your journey.
If you have a blog, prepare as many posts as possible in advance. If you have client work, try to do more than usual for each so you can roll on for another month. Quite simply, do as much as you can now to minimize what you have to do when you’re away. (This even includes tasks like number 2).
4. Backup Documents Online
Whether you trust data storage services online or not, there’s no denying that they come in handy. If you’re careful and pick a reputable company or service to keep a hold of your data, you shouldn’t have any problems.
If you want to do a large backup then consider a company like Box.net. If you want to backup documents like Word, Excel and Powerpoint files, then consider using something like Google Documents which will convert them into an editable format online for you. There’s nothing worse than not having access to the data you need when traveling.
5. Take Responsibility
When you’re considering putting your work off for yet another day, don’t forget it was probably your clients who allowed you to have this freelancing luxury in the first place. Just because you’re in a new environment, it doesn’t mean your clients deserve anything less than your best.
Make sure that you stay on top of your tasks before enjoying what your adventures have to offer. It’s far better to get things ‘out of the way’ rather than worrying about them later when you’re doing whatever it is you put them aside for.
6. Carry Some Form of Note Taking
This can really be beneficial no matter what services you offer, but I’ve found it especially useful for whenever I need writing inspiration. It’s likely that most of your time will not be spent in front of a computer, but don’t feel like they are always necessary.
If you write, see if you can create article ideas or even content structure before you’re in front of that keyboard and mouse. If you design, jot down your ideas before you have a chance to fiddle around in Photoshop. It’s likely that your best ideas will come to you when you’re not in front of a computer so keep some form of note taking with you at all times to capture those insights.
7. Keep a File of Important Phone Numbers
There are chances that things will go ‘wrong’ when you’re away. Not only should you need the obvious phone numbers like those for emergency services, but it’s also a good idea to have the phone numbers of your clients, assistants, and so on.
When I was in South Africa I had my credit card stolen and needed to get it blocked straight away. Luckily, although I was far from any computer, I had the bank phone number on me and managed to get the card terminated. The last thing you want is to have to return home to sort out something like your finances.
Speaking of those…
8. Organize Your Income Sources
I’ve worked with clients for a number of years but I have also had my own websites which generate me money as well. Because of this, I receive funds from a varied number of sources. I regularly receive checks in the mail and it’s not exactly practical for me to return home just to cash them.
I have tried to save up as much money as possible before I leave on my journey so that I’m not relying on clients paying or websites performing in order to survive. On the other hand, it’s nice to make sure you can still receive income no matter where you are.
I have personally linked up my Paypal account directly to my bank, given my account details to companies that send me checks and left my details with family members who may need to cash checks for me. Finances are probably the most important thing you need to have in order before traveling so make sure you’re organized in this area!
As I said, this list is partly for my own benefit but I want to help out you guys as well. So, if I’ve missed anything crucial, make sure you let me know in the comments!
About the author: Glen Allsopp writes on the subject of Personal Development at PluginID. His aim is to help you 'Plug into your Identity' and reach your full potential.
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27 Comments
Sean Lindo
June 30th, 2009 at 12:50 pmHey Glenn, this is Sean with Box.net. Great post! And thanks for recommending Box as part of your essential tools for freelancing on the road. As an added note, you can edit documents, spreadsheets and presentations within Box as well using integrated third-party services from Zoho, EditGrid and others. There are tons of other services, including ones for tweeting links to files and folders via Twitter, editing photos with Picnik and sending links to files and folders through your Gmail or Google Apps Mail accounts. There’s more than 20 services to choose from, so I encourage you and readers to check them out. Just click on the “OpenBox” tab when you’re signed into Box. Pretty cool stuff.
So yes, Box is great for storing, accessing and sharing all your content anywhere – but because of our large network of integrated third-party applications, people can also interact with and edit their content right inside the Box environment.
Nicholas Z. Cardot
June 30th, 2009 at 8:16 pmGood advice. I like the last one about ordering your income sources and preparing yourself financially before taking on road trips like this. Great ideas and thanks for the post.
Richael | Domain Marvelous
July 1st, 2009 at 12:40 amThis gotta be one of the great posts for self employed people when going on a vacation. There is nothing worse than forgetting to take care of something, thus ruining your time while you on the road. And there is nothing better than getting access to stuffs you need within the shortest time and effort possible. Great post, I am bookmarking and spreading it to my blog readers.
Adam
July 1st, 2009 at 2:04 amGreat post, thanks :-)
Tara Kelly
July 1st, 2009 at 5:30 amGlad you use Passpack! Before founding Passpack I was a freelance developer for 10+ years – and these are great tips. It’s SO hard to get a decent vacation in this line of work.
On organizing your email, I like to use Thunderbird and it’s powerful filtering, but it doesn’t travel well. So I’ve recently started syncing it with Gmail via IMAP. Lifehacker has a great how-to on setting that up.
Cheers to all, and happy trails!
James
July 1st, 2009 at 8:17 amSurprised that there is no mention of PortableApps.com
By using PortableApps, you can have your entire environment including Firefox, email and other programs (such as OpenOffice) all installed on a USB stick which you simply plug in and use on any pc you encounter, so you can use internet cafes, etc., but still with your full email history, logins, etc., and all your Firefox bookmarks, browsing history, etc.
Cath Duncan
July 1st, 2009 at 10:36 amGreat tips, Glen – especially the organising of your admin, an area that I loathe! I’m getting better at setting up the systems to handle that stuff automatically though and the rewards are huge. It gives me more time to do the stuff I do love doing.
Cath
@CathyWebSavvyPR
July 1st, 2009 at 2:52 pmLove the tips, some of them are useful for everyday, not just when traveling. One other tip you could do before a trip is to hire a VA or virtual assistant to handle some of the tasks that can be delegated.
Aneslin
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:28 amthanks for the tips bro.
I got some new tips here.
raj
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:48 amSome countries (including the U.S.) do not allow you to freelance while you visit there – even if you have already had the clients for years. Just something to think about when you plan. As a result, I have lost many months of income. (Being honest isn’t always good for you.)
Sam Dunn
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:46 pmI live and die by my Moleskin notebook when I’m out and about / working at the same time. Solid list.
Also for those that are wondering, that wonderful tropical picture is Borah Borah. I’m chalking it up on my “need to visit” list.
Lance Hooper Bartlett
July 4th, 2009 at 5:05 pmCracking post, like it!
Freelancing on the road is soooo much easier nowadays, particularly if you use the likes of google apps. My entire business is now set-up so I can run it from anywhere in the world. Just think how far we’ve come since 1995, god bless the internet!
Cheers
Lance
curtismchale
July 5th, 2009 at 11:33 amI use Dropbox and Keepass (and KeepassX depending on OS) to keep my passwords secureand on multiple machines, and in the cloud. You can get versions for almost any OS (including smartphones and iPhone is coming) and even a portable version for USB keys.
divageek
July 6th, 2009 at 2:07 pmThanx for the great advice. I’m far from taking any kind of vacation but your tips are useful I think for anyone who needs to self manage.
Thanx for sharing!
candolim beach
July 7th, 2009 at 2:12 amWow thank you for great information
Dawn
July 7th, 2009 at 10:23 amFantastic post! And…where did you get this picture? It caught my eye and struck a cord. I adore it.
Keep up the relevant and always-interesting posts!
Best,
Dawn
PJ Deegan
July 14th, 2009 at 10:40 amGreat post. Thanks! This makes lots of sense.
Jason
July 21st, 2009 at 11:59 amExcellent list for travel bloggers! It’s amazing how many passwords we have to remember for our on-line lives. Honestly, I have 147 passwords/user ids to date. I can’t remember all those, so a storage application is an excellent suggestion. Having them documented somewhere, whether it’s an application, or your own method, it’s definitely important.
oneredsock
October 7th, 2009 at 8:33 amGreat tips for anyone going abroad for any period of time. Thanks for sharing!
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