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How would you like to make a living by doing what you love on your own terms – from anywhere in the world? Whether you want the flexibility to attend all of your kid’s soccer games, or the freedom to spend three months backpacking Europe, having a remote income opens up a world of opportunities. With a remote digital business, your travel and work locations are nearly endless. You can simply hop into your 1950 Porsche and head wherever the road takes you, as long as the place has internet. If you’re ready to take your own digital business fully remote, here are a few steps that can help.
Know How “Remote” You Can Be
Some digital niches can be more remote than others. If you provide telephone-based customer service, it might be hard to work long-term from the opposite side of the globe when you need to be up at midnight to take calls during US business hours. Also, some professions like teachers and tax preparers might only be able to travel during certain months of the year when their work is generally slower.
For other fields like graphic design, writing, or managing an online store, your hours can be more flexible. As long as you deliver projects on time, it doesn’t matter when or where you work.
Picking the right profession/business in the first place can make it substantially easier to go remote.
Make a List of Potential Work/Travel Destinations
If you could work from anywhere, where would it be? It might be as simple as driving to your parents’ house to care for them. Or perhaps you want to spend a month on every continent.
As you think about the locations you would like to work from, make sure that all of your needs are met.
A few criteria to consider includes:
- Reliable Internet Access
- Ability to Increase Bandwidth use
- Affordable Lodging
- Community is friendly to foreigners
- Plenty of non-work activities
Choosing to work remotely isn’t always as simple as blindly picking a point on the map and buying a one-way ticket. You need to make sure the location can keep you interested away from work, possibly find a community to make friends, and offer you the connectivity necessary to keep working and reading your Outlook PST emails.
Make a Hypothetical Budget for Your New Place
You need to make sure the financial numbers support your desire to work from anywhere. The last thing you want to experience is a trip cut short due to financial constraints. Running an “affordability test” will help prevent this problem.
To start, track your current expenses using a free money management app like Personal Capital. This exercise will allow you to track your current income and expenses on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis.
Now, create a list of similar expenses for the location you want to visit and compare your projected expenses to your current expenses. If the math doesn’t add up, you’ll need to find a way to increase your income, cut your expenses, or wait a bit longer before taking the leap.
Look For Funding Before You Need It
Follow business advice from one of the most successful digital business owners out there, Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora. Look for business funding before you even think you need it. The process of finding investors and raising startup capital will take much longer than you anticipate. You do not want to have to worry about running out of cash and needing energy saving tips to stay afloat just as you are about to scale your business. Start raising capital as early as possible. This will increase you chances at success in online business.
Hire a Virtual Assistant
Sometimes the only thing holding you back from working remotely is the day-to-day business decisions like accounting, reaching out to customers, or maintaining the company website. If you have some extra income each month, hiring a virtual assistant (VA) can free up your schedule and allow you to enjoy a few days off now and again to sightsee.
There are many great platforms for hiring virtual assistants. And if done right with structured cabling, it’s certainly worth it. Sometimes you need to spend money to concentrate on expanding your business, other times it’s wise to spend a few dollars to give yourself much needed freedom. It might not be realistic to delegate everything to a VA while you travel, but, you might be surprised just how helpful they can be.
Plan a Test Trip First
Before selling your house and buying a one-way ticket to your new destination, you might want to plan an initial smaller trip of two or three weeks. This trip can be used to accomplish several goals such as finding affordable housing, networking with other “expats”, and ultimately determining if your desired destination is a realistic option to work remotely.
If everything meets your satisfaction, then congrats! You’re now ready to begin your journey as a remote entrepreneur.
Image from https://www.elementarydigital.co.uk/a-hitchhikers-guide-to-being-a-digital-agencyworking-in-the-remote-world/
