Are you a digital nomad or do you travel long term for your business or are you a location independent entrepreneur? Are you wondering how the heck you keep up with running your business while you travel? That’s what I’m talking about in today’s video. Let’s get straight into it.
Now, when I first went travelling I definitely had no plan for how I was going to run my business. All I knew was that I was taking my laptop, I was going to go check out some coworking spaces and hopefully get work done while I’m there. And I did. I did do that, and I did get work done which was awesome and an absolute dream of mine to be able to do.
I mean seriously what an honor it is to be able to live location independent. But, looking back and while also planning ahead for my next round of travels, I can see what I need to work on and what I need to focus on when I’m traveling. So, here’s my three tips for you on how you can prepare and run your business while you’re traveling.
PLAN AHEAD
Oh my God. Seriously, if you’re not planning ahead you are already behind. So, I learned this the hard way. I did not plan at all for when I went travelling so I was just scrambling things together. And, naturally, what happens when you’re traveling you get caught up doing stuff; doing fun things, exploring, making friends, going out, doing exciting things in these countries that you’ve wanted to explore for the longest time.
For me, I wound up behind a lot of the time. I wasn’t as consistent as I could have been and the reason for this was the lack of planning and organization. So, what I did before my next round of travels, is prepped a lot of content and gotten it ready before I got on my travels.
For instance, I have already planned and created a year’s worth of content before I have gone on my travels. This is so that I can remain consistent no matter what I’m doing or where I am. So, if I suddenly have to take a month off work because I get ill (knock on wood that I don’t!) or I decide that I am totally in love with this country that I’m visiting, and I want to go and explore for a couple of weeks, I can do that and my business, my content, is still going to roll out every week.
Another example is that I already know the offers that I’m going to be rolling out over the year. I have my dates planned for them so a couple of weeks out from when they’re due I will actually focus on creating the content for them.
On my calendar, I mark to make sure that I am in a place that I can create this content. And if, for whatever reason I’m not in a place that I can at that time, then I will either organize to create at a different time before that or after it. And also planning ahead, I communicate that with my Virtual Assistant.
OUTSOURCE AND DELEGATE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
For me, outsourcing is really important if I cannot keep up with consistent tasks like, for instance, marketing. I have a Pinterest strategist who is currently doing all of my Pinterest marketing for me. I do not have to worry about it! She sends me a report once a month and that’s all I need.
Now, because I’ve already done all of my videos, I don’t need to worry about it this year, but the next round of videos that I film I will outsource the editing to someone else because that takes a long time to do and it’s time that I can be spending organizing other stuff for my business.
In terms of customer service I have my Virtual Assistant who does all of that for me, so that if I am, again, on the road/out of action/uncontactable; my Virtual Assistant is keeping up with those emails and keeping the connection with my audience there. Delegate what you can!
I recommend to check out my post, How to start Outsourcing in your Business. That’ll really help you figure out what you need to delegate first. But, you can start off with something as simple as Fiver. Find someone on there to help you start outsourcing one of your tasks. If you haven’t already got an assistant or if you haven’t already started outsourcing.
AUTOMATION
Automate as much as you can. That especially comes with social media because it’s so easy to slip on it. Like me for Instagram; if I didn’t have my posted up on Later, to just roll out every day, I would forget to do it! But, because I have automated it so that it just rolls out to my phone every single day and I get the notification, I always remember I’ve got to do an Instagram post.
You can automate Pinterest, you can automate your email responses (to a degree). If you are out of action or if you are exploring, or if you just cannot respond to emails, set up an auto-reply. Automate your sales processes; get those sales funnel set up, get those tripwires going, so that you’re still making money whether or not you’re actually actively working in your business. Because, duh, you know money is important!
As you can see, it is so important to stay ahead of the game. If you’re ahead then running your business is a breeze. It just becomes fun! And if you have already preplanned, pre-created, automated, delegated and outsourced before you even take off on the plane, then business just becomes fun! You don’t have to worry about the little day to day things because they’re already taking care of. Because you were organized!
Now I would love to hear from you. What number one tip are you going to take from this video and implement today so that you can get your business prepped and ready for when you take off on your travels again?
