Preparing Your Online Business for Travel and Relocation

Tune in or read the blog version below!

Traveling from the UK To USA

Welcome back to The Wanderlover Podcast!

I am recording this episode in advance and by the time it airs, I will have packed up all my stuff in Cornwall, England, where I’ve been for the past few months, I will have traveled to London and flew back to New York, where I will have also attended a Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within 4-day seminar!

All of this is super exciting, and after having an online business for the past, now almost seven years traveling full-time, it doesn’t mean that my business is stopping. It doesn’t mean that I’m not making sales. It doesn’t mean that I’m not bringing in revenue.

I am maintaining, if not exceeding all of my business activity, all of my sales activity even while I am doing all of this. And so in this episode, I’m going to teach you how to prepare your online business for travel and relocation.

Failing To Plan Is Planning To Fail

I’ve been doing this for years, and every time before I travel, before I know that I have a week or two of just really intense activity. I know how to prepare and so if you want a solid strategy so that you can prepare your business so that you can work from anywhere this episode is for you.

Having and running an online business is such a blessing and it’s honestly my favorite thing in the world. I would not trade it for anything else. It comes with so many perks and obviously my favorite is the ability to achieve time freedom, location freedom, and financial freedom. But of course I understand it also has its unique challenges.

And I say challenges, but honestly they’re just minor inconveniences that all have a workaround. And I think by now I’ve figured out every way to work around these challenges. 

It’s all about practice and planning. With a solid plan in place that keeps your business steady through all the changes in location, in time zones, in routines.

Once you know how to manage that and once you understand how you operate best as a business owner, then you’re good to go. You can just transition seamlessly from one location to the other and get back on your feet as quick as you can with no stress.

Again, failing to plan is planning to fail.

So I will walk you through every single step that I think is key to having a seamless transition. So these are all my non-negotiables.

Confirm & Block Dates

The first is having a clear idea of which dates you are going to be traveling and how long to block out your calendar for.

For example, because I am traveling domestically within England and then internationally back to the States, not only am I accounting for days where I am traveling by train or by plane, I am also blocking out a few days before and a few days after to get settled.

And what I mean by blocking my calendar is I am not taking any calls. I have completely blocked out my availability for two weeks on my passion planner.

I am also really aware of the two weeks that I am just focused on getting settled in on traveling without the stress of needing to do it all during this time.

It’s like a physical calendar block and also a mental calendar block. Give yourself more time than you think is necessary if this is your first relocation.

But if you are, let’s say, going back to a familiar place or a place where you have a routine, then you probably don’t need as much time. But give yourself more time than necessary. This is really going to ease the stress.

Over time, you’re going to know exactly how much time you actually need before and after your travels to get back on track. And so practice makes perfect.

Communicate With Clients & Team

The next step after you block out your calendar dates physically and mentally is to communicate. So let your clients know as soon as possible in advance when you’ll be traveling and reschedule calls if needed.

If you’re going to be in the air, if you’re going to not have internet connection, you need to communicate with your team and especially with your clients when relocating communication is key and it has to be seamless, and it has to be done as soon as you know what dates you’re going to be out of office.

So set a schedule for when you’ll be available considering different time zones.

Maybe you can start taking client calls before you take on any additional calls. But tools like Slack, Zoom, Google Meet and Voxer are all great for staying in touch as well as social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram where you can put up a story or let your groups know that you’re going to be out of office.

Once that is done, so step one is to really prioritize your mindset and knowing what is coming up and preparing yourself for like your few weeks off and your few weeks not in front of your computer all day.

And then the next step is to communicate externally with your clients, your customers, your students, and your team. After that, we can then focus on your business internally.

Prepare Content

Content Calendar 

The first thing I do is to create a content calendar to know exactly what is coming up.

Then you want to schedule, and you want to automate because you know what needs to be put in, planned in advance for an extended period of time, you know exactly what needs to be done.

So starting with a content calendar, which is what you’re going to be posting externally, and then moving on to deliverables and tasks that you would like to achieve in the next few weeks, even while you’re traveling that you can do offline.

Effectively Batch Create Content 

So I break this up into three separate pools with content creation:

1. Idea batch
2. Create batch
3. Schedule batch

I like working with each of these steps separately, instead of finishing one piece of content from start to finish and repeating that.

I like coming up with many ideas for let’s say, Instagram posts, many ideas for podcast episodes, many ideas for email newsletters.

And then on my next task, I’m going to create them all. And then I’m going to schedule them all.

So this doesn’t necessarily all have to be done before you leave on your trip. You can actually, work at the airport, work on trains, work in lounges, work on the flight, but it’s really helpful to just know exactly what is coming up and what needs to be created.

Prioritize Action Items

On the other side of this, so not content creation related, if you have to interview, if you have to delegate, if you have to hire, if you have courses or trainings that you want to go through, if you have workflows or SOPs or whatever else in your business that you want to get done, also have a clear idea of exactly what those action items are.

With our next step, we get to decide which action items need to be completed before we leave and which action items can be done on the go.

This is really going to depend on how easy it is for you to work while traveling. Like I know some of my clients while they’re traveling, the last thing they’re thinking of is content creation and they’re just not in the flow.

Others are just really inspired when they’re traveling and maybe like you can create content on your travels and you know exactly what needs to be filmed when you’re at the airport.

Whatever it is, this really depends on you. Personally, I would recommend doing as much as you can before you travel, just so you’re not, stress ed because anything can come up and it can be really hard to focus when you’re in new environments and moving all the time.

If you don’t have time to do it all, I definitely recommend prioritizing the action items that require you to be in a certain location or environment.

For example, recording this podcast episode, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it at an airport, like not impossible, but I’m not gonna rely on that.

And so having a clear idea of what can be done while you’re on the move, while you’re offline, while you’re in the middle of a flight, that can also give you peace of mind knowing that you still have time to work, if you want to.

If you choose to make sure that all of your work is backed up and accessible from anywhere, use cloud storage like Google drive or Dropbox. So you’re not reliant on a single device, and you’re not reliant on you being the sole person in your business that can access all of these documents and assets.

And if something goes wrong with your laptop or your phone, the best thing is to be able to log in from a different device and access everything you need.

I’ve gotten my phone stolen, I’ve spilled coffee on my laptop while traveling, and it’s definitely not fun, especially if you’re in a different country. And so just make sure everything is backed up, if not already.

Automate Your Business

The next step and my favorite step is to automate whatever you can in your business.

I’ve been so blessed a few years ago to have worked with an Online Business Manager who really helped me streamline and automate all of the processes in the back end in my business.

So automation is your best friend on the road because it’s really setting it and forgetting it.

Scheduling emails, automating client onboarding and offboarding processes, setting up workflows that keep things moving even when you’re offline.

All of these things are going to save you so much headache and so much time because you know that you have the processes and automations in place for my business tools, like automations and ThriveCart for sales have been invaluable.

These allow me to stay connected with clients and manage my business and make sales even when I’m not actively online.

I know it can seem like a lot of tech work in the beginning, but it will pay off in the long run, especially if you have lots of travels and you just don’t want to do everything manually every single time.

So once you know exactly what is coming up, it’s going to be really easy for you to sit down somewhere like at a lounge or at the airport or on a train and take out your laptop and tackle the first action item, even if you don’t have internet.

Create A Portable Work Environment

What I really like to do is have a little work setup that I take with me wherever I go. That really subconsciously improves my focus because I am in work mode.

This includes my laptop stand so that I can raise my laptop higher It includes my mouse It includes my Passion Planner and I have all my little pens and highlighters just in this really cute bag.

When that bag comes out no matter where I am, I know that it’s time for work and I don’t have to spend 20-30 minutes trying to decide what to do.

I know exactly what is coming up because it’s all in front of me.

Know Your Timezones

The last thing you need to do to make sure you are all set is to plan in advance for time zone differences.

So making sure that when you set and open up new availability on your calendar, it’s matched up to your destination time zone.

Different time zones can really throw off your usual work rhythm, especially if your calendar is messed up, it’s really going to throw you off.

One of the best things you can do is plan in advance. And as soon as you arrive at your destination, change your Google calendar, change your calendar, change the phone time and your laptop time to be at the destination time zone so you can start off fresh and ready immediately. 

The Reality Of Working While Relocating

Those are all of my non negotiable action items before I travel every time and what I do also want to advise if you are not used to this lifestyle is to give yourself grace and practice flexibility, especially in the beginning traveling itself is It’s unpredictable and not every day will go according to plan.

Whether it’s bad weather or internet outages or travel delays or even jet lag, it messes with your schedule and that’s normal. Like you’re not trying to change that about travel.

But your business is flexible and being flexible as a person when all of this is happening is going to give you so much more peace of mind.

So just giving yourself extra time to settle in or extra time for deadlines or being okay with adjusting your work hours or changing up your schedule or maybe missing your morning routine. If you want more tips on how to balance your time as a digital nomad, I have a whole blog post about it here!

Know that it’s all okay. It doesn’t have to go exactly according to plan, and you really want to make the whole experience of travel enjoyable, right? Not only when you get to your destination. It’s like that cliche. It’s about the journey, not the destination.

Focus On Your Why

One final tip is to focus on your why. Why you’re choosing this lifestyle and all of the benefits that this lifestyle comes with despite all of these minor roadblocks. Like they say, you choose your hard.

Every single path is going to come with hardships, but I truly believe that all of these minor inconveniences are nothing that you can’t handle, so go back to your why, whether you started this freedom based business for adventure or creativity or exploring new cultures.

Keeping your why at the forefront will help you make decisions that support both your business and your happiness, even when you’re traveling on the road.

Thank you so much for tuning in to today’s episode. If I can ask a favor from all of you, if you are listening to this podcast on Spotify, if you could please take a second to just give us a star rating.

We notice that the more people rate us, the more awareness. that we have on the platform, and we really do want to give our Spotify a little boost, so I would appreciate it so much if you found this episode or this podcast helpful.

Hope these tips help you with your next big move, and if you have any questions, you always know that I’m one message away on Instagram at @thewanderlover. Safe travels everyone, and I will see you in the next episode. Have an amazing week.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, it would mean so much if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This helps us spread The Wanderlover mission to those who need a dose of inspiration today.

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