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Becoming a Freelance Web Worker: Part 4, Working Anywhere

 Skellie

Probably the most glamorous aspect of the web freelance lifestyle — aside from working when you want, how you want — is the ability to work from anywhere in the world.

Theoretically, all you need is a computer and some kind of internet connection. As you know, these key ingredients are available everywhere from Romania to Peru (especially if you BYO a laptop).

Achieving the kind of flexibility that will allow you to take a working holiday anywhere in the world does take some time and effort, though it’s certainly worth the pay-off. In this final part of the Becoming a Freelance Web Worker series I’ll be explaining how you can achieve ultimate flexibility as a freelancer by working when you want, how you want, where you want.

Part 1: Eliminating Externalities

The essence of building a mobile office is to eliminate externalities. Lugging around books, paperwork, a PDA, calendars, ledgers and diaries isn’t exactly conducive to breezy, light-weight travel.

Ultimately, your office should exist on your laptop and spill out as little as possible.

While every home office is different, you can begin the transformation with a two question process:

1. Will I really need this when working remotely?

If no, don’t take it with you. If yes, proceed to question two.

2. Can I put this on my laptop, or achieve the same effect using a laptop?

These days you can replicate almost any aspect of a home office using technology (and mostly free technology).

  • Manage your important dates with Google Calendar.
  • Manage your To Do lists with, well, any one of these.
  • Scan your paperwork and important files and keep them on your hard drive.
  • Manage payment and invoices with PayPal.
  • Etc.

To find more digital equivalents for your home office, Google is your friend.

Part 2: Becoming paperless

Paperwork is another aspect of working from home that will tie you to one location. The second half of building a mobile office is to eliminate paperwork, or deal with it online.

This will be most difficult when you’re just getting started with web freelancing. This is because fully-fledged web freelancers will, more often than not, invoice and get paid online. In some ways, becoming paperless is easier for us than for others. Correspondence and payment from clients is primarily carried out online.

If you still expect to receive work-related mail, a service like Earth Class Mail (currently US only and starting at $9.95 p/month) will send you scans of your sealed mail via email. You can then have the contents securely scanned and emailed to you in .pdf format, shredded, forwarded, and so on.

Alternately, you can enlist a friend, family member or virtual assistant to open your mail and either summarize by email what you need to know, or scan and send you copies — possibly in exchange for a nice bottle of wine upon your return ;-).

You’ll also want to enable online banking and, if possible, online bill-pay to manage expenses online. The kind of services you can use will depend on where you’re based internationally.

You can use a secure web app like Mint to keep track of your finances, debt, income, expenses and anything else involving dollars and cents.

Remember: while the computer crash that destroyed your last big project was heart-breaking, the loss of essential paperwork can have serious implications. Make sure than every aspect of your paperless office is regularly backed up and stored in multiple locations.

Part 3: Connectivity, anywhere

International mobile broadband and equivalents are expensive and probably out of reach for most of us, so I won’t go into much detail about those options here. Ideally, you’ll want to locate yourself near free wireless locations or pick accommodation that provides internet connectivity for lodgers.

Wi-Fi Free Spot is a comprehensive directory listing of free wireless locations across the US and elsewhere. For countries with few listings, a simple Google search for ‘free wireless’ + ‘location’ will likely yield some results you can use to help plan your trip.

If you want to go somewhere particularly remote or not so wealthy, internet cafes become another workable option. You’ll want to do as much as possible offline and use them only when necessary (they tend to be chaotic working environments, particularly in places where not many people have home internet access).

You can use a USB thumb drive to transfer your work to an internet cafe computer and send it to clients, or to download files you may need while offline.

Part 4: A holiday that pays for itself?

Once you’ve built a mobile office and have found a place to connect, you’re in the enviable position of being able to earn an income anywhere. If you’re in a place where the exchange rate is favorable, you may be able to earn just as much as you would at home, while spending much less.

If you’re doing some work as you travel (how much is up to you), the trip will, at least partially, pay for itself.

If you’re single, or if you have an adventurous spouse/family, you could relocate overseas for an extended period and run your freelance business from a dream location. The Caribbean? Hawaii? Brazil? France? The choice is yours.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series on becoming a web freelancer. While I don’t expect everyone who reads this to drop everything, build a digital office and relocate to the Bahamas, I do hope it will at least get you thinking about the kind of freedom offered by working online.

Getting there is not as hard as you think. You just have to allow yourself the freedom to do it.

This concludes this four part series of posts. You can read more from Skellie at her brand new blog Anywired

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  1. Gravatar

    shafiu

    January 14th, 2008

    Skellie these articles are very good.
    Some day I am gonna follow my dream and relocate somewhere and work from my home.
    Thank you for the articles

  2. Gravatar

    Grant

    January 14th, 2008

    Another great post from this series. I like the sound of going on a holiday or vacation and being paid. But you know as well as i do work doesn’t come that easy and while you may be on vacation you do have to work and you do have to work hard.

  3. Gravatar

    Kristi Holl

    January 14th, 2008

    Even if we don’t plan a vacation or home on the other side of the world, this is great help for us baby boomers who need to work and meet deadlines, but want to fly around the country seeing our kids and grandkids. I like the practical tips of how to convert paper/books/planners to online efficiency. People have families spread out all over the country–and the world–these days. Being able to have a portable office has benefits for so many reasons!

    http://www.KristiHoll.com

  4. Gravatar

    michael brito

    January 14th, 2008

    great information. i would never think of doing some of this stuff.

  5. Gravatar

    R

    January 14th, 2008

    So, how do you find work that will allow you to work anywhere? I’m seriously thinking about switching to being a freelancer, but many of the jobs I see out there require you to live near the company — at least near the city where the work is. Maybe this is different for Interaction Design/Information Architecture (my chosen profession), but it seems like it shouldn’t be.

    The main reasons I’m considering the switch is because of the flexibility of time and location (probably the main reason many people consider the switch) — my wife just had our first son and I would really like to be able to be home more and work when it’s most convenient for us (more in the evenings), but I don’t want to move to a larger city — I want to stay in a smaller town and even be able to move closer to family (way out in the boondocks). All this seems like it should be possible, but I just don’t see many freelance job postings that allow you to work remotely like that.

    So, my question to Skellie and other folks out there, how do you find work that will actually allow the freedom of location that you describe here?

  6. Gravatar

    Chad

    January 14th, 2008

    While you present some great information, there’s more you could to do to be completely free and able to work anywhere…

    …such as transportation.
    …housing.
    …understanding relationships.
    …online client base (rather than local)
    …multiple languages

    Of course I’d never expect these to be covered, since they have little to do with work and much more to do with lifestyle - but we all know it would be hard to do work in the Caribbean while paying for a hotel if we’re still maintaining our house and car payments back home.

  7. Gravatar

    layerhater

    January 14th, 2008

    I was just about to say the same thing Chad mentioned. I will be spending the month of february working from a beach house in the Caribbean and the biggest obstacle so far has been having to pay all my regular expenses back home, (rent, cable, internet, utlilites) while spending again for my off-site location. In essence I’m paying twice. So I would recommend anyone trying to do this to work twice as hard when they are home, so that they can afford to leave.

    Or if you still live with your parents, then you have no problems.

  8. Gravatar

    Nick | PTO

    January 14th, 2008

    “Your office should exist on your laptop…” — great advice! Even better is to have your office accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. Google Docs has come a long way in helping me achieve this — I can now access almost everything in my ‘office’ from any ‘net-enabled machine.

    With more graphics software moving online too, I can see a time when designers won’t be so tied to their machines — they’ll be able to enjoy the same freedom that many writers and bloggers already do.

  9. Gravatar

    Greg Hollings

    January 14th, 2008

    I think the point about taking advantage of a favourable exchange rate is an important one, especially if your business is a young one. To that end I think the choice of your first destination as a Location Independent Professional needs serious consideration too.

    Great series of articles Skellie

  10. Gravatar

    naderby

    January 14th, 2008

    sigh…one day…

  11. Gravatar

    vancitymiss

    January 15th, 2008

    Lots of great advice here, and I hate to have to rain on a parade or piddle on a dream, but those who think they can just pick up and work anywhere could be in for a bit of a shock. It is important to check into whether the country one’s travelling requires visas (i.e., as a Canadian freelancer, I am not allowed to just work from the US; US and Australian laws are very strict about the distinction between the visitor visa and one of the (many, and highly confusing, not to mention tricky-to-obtain work visas.) There is also the matter of taxation, depending on your length of stay and the country’s laws. There are many horror stories (from people having their laptops confiscated to long-term bans from entering the country) on expat sites, which I highly recommend people research before embarking on travel-and-working holidays and long-term sojourns.

  12. Gravatar

    Raimond Garcia

    January 15th, 2008

    Awesome Article Skellie! I’ll see you in the Bahamas!

    Peace

  13. Gravatar

    Jan Hagenbrock

    January 15th, 2008

    A word of advice….. Internet in Brazil is unreliable ;-)
    Trust me on this one…

    Jan

  14. Gravatar

    Adam

    January 15th, 2008

    Great series.

    R: check the job board on this site (or the Monster List of Freelancing Job Sites article) - there are plenty of freelance positions advertised with “anywhere” as the destination.

    I currently only have clients in the same state as where I live, but all accept my flexible work environment because of my quick response times and work quality…. This has resulted in me having 8 “working” holidays around Aus & NZ in 2007 just from having these regular local clients with established relationships - some holidays completely paid for themselves from work that came in while I was away.

    Although I am currently in the position where I am always “on call” no matter where I am, which can be stressful and inconvenient especially when on holiday, this year I’m aiming to get some more staff or freelance partnerships going to help share the workload, and to take your advice on getting international clients…. If all works out I hope to be working from Fiji and Hawaii this year too :)

  15. Gravatar

    riki

    January 15th, 2008

    Don’t trust Google or Facebook :)

    I’ve been freelancing in Japan for two years now. But doesn’t really feel any different from Sydney though, cause I got my head in the computer 24/7. But sometimes I walk outside and go “duh!! Japan”.

    Tracking exchanges rates is important. It can make a huge difference.

    I think the key to success is being contactable. If you’re one of these people who take three days to respond to client emails, ya gonna die.

  16. Gravatar

    Tyler Willis

    January 15th, 2008

    “but we all know it would be hard to do work in the Caribbean while paying for a hotel if we’re still maintaining our house and car payments back home.”

    Get a Virtual Assistant and have them rent out your home for the time period you’re gone. Not at easy for the car but that takes care of the big cost. Also have that same VA find a cheap place for you to lease where you are staying. Renting a nice apartment is often MUCH cheaper than a hotel.

    Cheers,
    Tyler

  17. Gravatar

    Ken

    January 15th, 2008

    I use Sosius (sosius.com), which is a free collaboration service that has everything i need to work with my geographically dispersed clients (tasks, blogs, online storage, expertize searching and much more). The one thing that really impresses me about Sosius is their customer service, any questions i have they get back to me within a few hours.

    Ken Johnson

  18. Gravatar

    Viking KARWUR

    January 15th, 2008

    Sure… Working anywhere…
    I’m freelance web designer…
    Today I’m in Jakarta… Next Morning I can be in Bali… :)

    http://www.vikingkarwur.com

  19. Gravatar

    Drew Taylor

    January 15th, 2008

    I recently returned to the States from a 6 month stay in Shanghai, China. Besides the slower internet and time difference there was really not much difference in working from across the world. I even managed to pick up several new clients in Asia while I was there and now continue to work for them from the States.

    Some additional advice and tools…
    • Get a PayPal debit card - sometimes waiting the 3-4 days for the money to transfer to your account can be a pain.
    • Get a Box.net account - this is one of the handiest tools I use when transferring large files to clients and storing them. Upload files and they are readily available to clients even if you aren’t because of the time difference.
    • Campfire (www.campfirenow.com) - Campfire is an online tool used to organize project details, store files, chat with clients and keep track of project tasks. A great tool to make sure you and your clients are on the same page.
    • SKYPE! - I can’t believe you didn’t mention this one. It’s a great tool to be available by phone at anytime and making your clients feel comfortable. I purchased a “SkypeIn” number that was a local number for my clients to call, then forwarded that number to my Chinese cell phone. This way my clients could contact me without paying international rates.

    That’s all for now, I will let you know if I think of anymore tips :)

  20. Gravatar

    Skellie

    January 16th, 2008

    @ R: The second article in the series (which you can access via the FSw main page) is about finding work that will allow you to work online, from anywhere. Hope you find it useful!

    @ Chad: All really important points. I didn’t mention them because this article is meant to be an introductory primer, and I didn’t want to overwhelm people with too much new information at once. The topics you mention are all things I’ll be writing about on Anywired :-).

    @ vancitymiss: Thanks for the word of caution. I didn’t want to include too much information on this in the article because the rules and regulations are incredibly different depending on where you are moving from and where you’re moving to. But it is necessary to research all these things in detail when making your plans. Thanks.

    To everyone else: thanks for the feedback and good luck!

  21. Gravatar

    Jordan

    January 16th, 2008

    Why is it that when I have a good idea for my freelancing I come here and see that it has already been written!!! lol

    I just bought a laptop for the same reason written above :) Thank you for this article this can help me focus!

  22. Gravatar

    Nathan Ketsdever

    January 18th, 2008

    Great advice! Panera Bread is so clutch for decent food and free-wifi. I just wish they didn’t have such time restrictions during lunch time.

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