I started my business when I was living in Bali and honestly, being able to work from anywhere was my biggest driving force – it still is!
In this post, I’m talking about how I set up my business, and what systems and tools I use that allow me to travel and work and still make a good living.
You might not want to travel in a camper van, but maybe you have small kids at home and are struggling to find a balance between working on your business and taking care of your family, which is of course different, but the same strategies that I’m using could help you as well.
1. Plan Ahead
Whether you’re traveling or not, if you don’t generally have a lot of time for your business, you need to plan ahead. It can actually make you more productive and successful faster when you have a limited amount of time for your business so you really need to plan ahead and decide what needs to get done and when to make the most of this.
I use Asana (a free project management software) to plan out all of my tasks, projects, and when things are going to be happening in my business throughout the week. For example, if it’s a week where I’m traveling a lot and will have long drives on some of the days, it’s important that this is reflected in Asana.
I’ll move tasks around so that on the days I’m driving, I won’t have lots of tasks to try and get done and put pressure on myself to do them after driving for 5-6 hours. I plan ahead for this though and use Sunday afternoons to sit down and decide what my week will look like and make sure to assign dates to them so that I stay on track.
2. Prioritize Tasks That Move Your Business Forward
Very similarly to my first point, part of planning ahead is actually identifying the tasks that need to get done first, before anything else. These will often be tasks that will move your business forward and not eat up too much of your time. For example, this could be updating a sales funnel, updating lessons in your offers/programs, setting up a flash sale, etc.
You might spend two hours making a reel and re-recording and playing with all the filters, but you shouldn’t be prioritizing a task like this because it’s not directly impacting your business. When planning ahead with your project management tool, make sure to identify and prioritize 3 tasks that you want to get done that week that are directly related to your business and advancing it, and make sure to get those done above all other tasks.
3. Set Up Funnels For Sales & Lead Generation
If you’re not familiar with funnels/lead gen, it’s a system that you can set up that allows you to bring people into your audience and email list, by bringing them through a funnel on your website. This system can be as simple or process as you please, but the idea is to get people onto your email list so that you can then get in touch with them and let them know about your latest offers. This will increase your chances of them purchasing one of your offerings/products.
I have a few funnels that mean I get sales every single day. These range from blog posts to being found organically on Google, optimizing Pinterest, and more. A perfect example of this that lives here on my website is my Free Online Course Starter Kit.
You need to have funnels in place so that you don’t have to manually send out all of these emails. This wouldn’t be realistic and would take you hours to do every day. Lead generation is so important and you always want to get people to join your email list. Don’t just focus on social media because you have no way of directly getting in touch with your audience, they will only see what the algorithm shows them.
4. Be Flexible With Your Schedule
I have a very strong work ethic and I definitely subscribed to that hustle culture of getting everything done and meeting all your deadlines and making everyone happy, etc. I’ve been like that for the longest time and had that mindset when I was working in advertising.
I started my business to become my own boss, set my own schedule, and work on my own terms. That means when I’m not feeling well I can take the afternoon off, or if I want to go out on a hike because the weather is nice, I can do that. I can then work on the weekend because that works for me!
Listen to your body and see where you can be flexible with your schedule. Sometimes if I’m feeling down, or it’s one of those days, I can switch tasks and do something that doesn’t require too much brain work. Routine tasks can then get ticked off and then later in the week I can do the creative tasks or things that really need my full focus. The ability to be flexible is key here!
5. Use Dropbox & Backups
Using smart tools is really important – especially when you’re on the road. You never want to lose your computer and then lose everything because you don’t have it backed up anywhere. You could also of course lose your laptop at home but there’s a higher chance this will happen when you’re on the road.
I use dropbox to backup all my files and use smart-sync. Before I go on a long trip, I make sure that I download all of the important files so that I don’t have to rely on an internet connection.
Everything is in the cloud or on my website so I can start and run my business on a different computer with no issues. You don’t want to save all of your files on your hard drive and specifically to your PC, otherwise, if you lose it, you won’t be able to get access.
Another tip is to not use the same password everywhere and use a password manager like LastPass to keep your passwords safe and generate secure ones when you sign up for something. Make sure you have all the security updates and be really careful with using open wifi networks. If you have no other choice than to use open networks, try using a VPN whenever you can to reduce the risk of being hacked.
If you want to elevate your brand and offers and build a six-figure business, you’re invited in The Mentorship.
The Mentorship is a 12-month mentorship program with unparalleled support for coaches and other service providers who are ready to elevate their brand, sell out their offers and scale their business to six figures.
What really sets it apart is that you get a ton of video trainings to help you implement things and take action, but you also get 1:1 coaching, group coaching, and personal feedback and critique for work you submit.
Go to www.susannerieker.com/mentorship and get all the details.
