Natalie Vartanian's Blog

Working from the road? Piece of Cake!

One of the main parts of this experiment of living in another country for five weeks was also seeing if we could WORK in another country. Besides a couple of hiccups, which is more about the reliability of the internet connection than our business model, it has been refreshingly doable. I remember being in Florence end of 2008, saying to my travel buddy and roommate at the time that I need to really figure out a way to do my work from anywhere so that I could travel/live all over! I probably sounded like a mad woman … do or die in the tone of my voice. The avenue I saw at the time was being able to do my business ONLINE!

Here we are, two years later, and I have been conducting my consulting remotely for almost a year, as well as coaching which is primarily over the phone! The last month of that year has been in beautiful Costa Rica. Now that there has been enough time to compare the two: working in the states versus another country, I can offer some feedback.

Overall, working here versus from home has not been very different. Except for those hiccups I mentioned earlier and detail further below, it’s been fairly smooth sailing. Here’s a little list I put together for you as you venture in to the world of working remotely FROM REMOTE:

Things to Keep in Mind:

1. Internet connectivity should be a deciding factor for where you go. No internet, no working.
2. What type of space do you need? If needed, can you scale it down and work with bare essentials?
3. Are you okay with WiFi cafe’s to conduct your business or do you need some privacy to make calls or a secure internet connection to work on confidential matters?

Mechanics (How To):

1. For those that simply do their work online, internet connection options i.e. Broadband, WiFi and security of the line are all you need to concern yourself with. Obviously, the better the connection, the less interruptions you will have to deal with.
2. For those that need “phone” connection, there is an additional component to consider, but so many options:
• Skype – Computer to computer which is free, use as phone and/or video chat
• Skype Phone - Super cheap monthly fee to call various parts of the world (I paid $3 a month to have Unlimited US and Canada Calls which has come in VERY handy – calling clients, friends/family or making conference calls)
• Google Chat – You can call and/or video chat through Gmail/Chat (Like Skype, there are the free versions or super cheap rates, it’s worth researching)
• Google Voice – You can have a bridge line number (your choice of Area Code) and have incoming calls forward to your Google Chat so people from home are not charged International rates.
3. Design with your clients when you are going out of town – let them know the internet may be slow or your connection may drop. Build some flexibility in to your work to anticipate the things on the next list!

Things you can’t plan for:

1. Your “office” may be near the communal washing machine which will inadvertently be used during your coaching calls (Sally knows this one intimately)
2. The power may go out, sometimes for 5 minutes, sometimes for 5 hours. When this happens, you may not have enough juice on your laptop to do anything more than an hour of work! (I know this one intimately)
3. Your “office” may share a wall with your neighbor’s living room. Did I mention the walls are thin and there is a door that connects the two apartments which lowers the sound-proofness of the room?
4. Your internet connection may be moody. On several occasions, the internet would just drop and although it didn’t last long, it can get annoying for your client when having a call with them.

Luckily most of these things we had a feeling would be issues because Sally and I picked our place to rent mainly based on the fact that it had a protected, individual internet hook up and we would have a room (door to close and all) to conduct our coaching sessions via Skype. I also thought to just buy the monthly Skype calling plan for $3 and it’s ridiculous how much we have used it – BEST investment ever!

In our specific case, we had an additional “hurdle” since we have only one internet card to share between the two of us. In Costa Rica, the phone company assigns maximum one internet card per apartment. So obviously we have had to coordinate our internet usage for work and personal, i.e. sharing our schedules etc. Thankfully we are both coaches and do a fantastic job of dancing in the moment! For us it’s actually been a blessing at times … you can focus on your writing because you are not online getting distracted. I have been reading and writing a whole lot more as a result of less internet time. In any situation or location, you will come across your specific version of a hurdle and it will take flexibility on your part most definitely!

Now that I’ve actually done it … lived AND worked in another country, I feel so much more confident about taking myself and my business on the road. Hope you feel that same confidence and inspiration. If you have any questions or need more information, I would love to help out. Just send me a note!

posted by Natalie Vartanian @ 10:41 AM