Can You Travel The World And Keep Working?
If you spend most of your time working on your phone and your laptop, the quick answer is yes! You can work outside of your office walls. In fact you can even be more productive working in a space of your own choosing, whether that’s at home, in a coffee shop, or on some far-flung island.
Digital nomads have known this for a long time, but in a surreal twist of world events it has swiftly been confirmed again and again that people can be both effective and productive when working remotely.
Can You Travel The World And Keep Working?
And if you’re starting to toy with the dawning possibilities of working while you’re travelling the world, here are our top tips to make it easier for you.
Build their trust in your skills
Whether you’re the boss, the employee, or the dauntless entrepreneur, this is when you need to outshine even your own self. Put in the extra preparation time before a phone call, double check the spelling in your emails and your messages, stretch your mind beyond the limits you’ve known before, and make your deadlines every single time.
People will always have the need to know that they can count on you, so when you keep yourself visible, when you keep communications clear and reassuring, and when you keep delivering in top form, it won’t really matter to them where in the world you are. Especially when you push yourself to go the extra mile … you’re already travelling, so you may as well add some voyager miles to your track record too.
Get the tech
If your laptop is on its last legs and your phone is so out-dated that half the apps don’t even function on it anymore, it’s definitely time to invest in some new tech. Now that you’re becoming a digital nomad, you’re going to want reliable, high-performance tools that make your life easier. Apart from your laptop and your phone, you’ll also need a mobile Wi-Fi hotspot as well as a decent portable charger to be truly agile. TechRadar has some excellent suggestions for portable chargers that will charge all your gadgets including your laptop.
And archaic as this may sound, get yourself a notebook and a pen (because you never know when it might come in handy) and pack it all into a smartly designed, weather-resistant, and lightweight laptop bag.
Video call like a pro
Up until now, the world was built on face-to-face interaction, so video calls become a key component in building the bridge for continued collaboration and managing relationships when you’re away. And of course sometimes the ideas are so complex, the only way to hash it out is to get everyone into one room (or in this case Zoom).
While video conferencing on platforms like Zoom may not be everyone’s idea of fun, working while you’re jet-setting will require some compromises. And this is one of them. So keep your video background clean, position yourself facing a window for clear and natural light, pack a sharply tailored shirt or jacket for that polished look, and remember that a good headset can make a big difference to the quality of your calls.
Can You Travel The World And Keep Working?
Perfect your remote skills on home ground first
It’s rehearsal time! You might be aching to launch headfirst into your world travels and claim your new title of digital nomad, but do give yourself the luxury of a test run on home ground before you jet off. Not only will this give the people you’re working with some time to get used to the idea, it will give you some peace of mind too.
Because this is where the ‘what ifs’ get to play out in the safety of your own home, where you have easy access to other resources and backup plans. Get to know how your software, your hardware, and even the key people in your work life respond to various demands in a remote working environment. It’s your safety net, your chance to troubleshoot things that may potentially go wrong and find the best tech options that will keep you looking like the pro you are, no matter where you are.
Can You Travel The World And Keep Working? Get a virtual assistant
And while we’re talking about making you look good, nothing can make you look quite as good as your very own virtual assistant. Our favourite resource for award-winning virtual assistant services is AVirtual, where you can find a professional who is both well-versed in the digital nomad lifestyle, and who matches your style of working.
Calendar management can be particularly tricky while you’re navigating different time zones, and a virtual assistant can make that process absolutely seamless for you. More than that, they can assist you with the all-important but all-too-time-consuming task of social media management while managing your household bills while you’re away. They can even offer you the opportunity to leverage off their own personally-honed set of business skills. Now isn’t that a win?
Manage your expectations
If lazing on the beach with your laptop in front of you is your vision of working while seeing the world, you need to reset your expectations a little. Firstly, laptops and beach sand are not very good friends. Secondly, the reality would be closer to the image of you racing to make a deadline inside your stuffy hotel room while outside your window those who really are on vacation are frolicking in the sun-kissed waves.
You may be working remotely from the most beautiful corner of the globe, but ultimately you are still working.
The distractions and challenges may be different, but they are there nonetheless. You may not have a boss breathing down your neck, but you still have the responsibility to deliver. You might be better served by replacing the image of that laptop on the beach with a delicious sun downer after a hard day’s work! Because even in paradise, work-life balance is something to strive for.
Book a cruise – Can You Travel The World And Keep Working?
One of the easiest ways to ease into the idea of travelling the world while you’re working is to book a cruise. Why? Because you’re looked after. You have staff who clean your room, make your bed, cook your food, serve your food, whisk away your dishes, do your laundry, provide you with entertainment and think up all the amazing things you can do.
You have everything you need, including Wi-Fi, you don’t have to waste time hanging around in airports, rushing to catch trains, or finding a new place to stay when you’re ready for the next adventure. MSC Cruises is a great place to start for cruises of just a few days to world cruises of over 100 days. You get to fulfil your dream of seeing the world, and probably the best part, you only ever have to unpack once!
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