Over the next few days life is going to become a bit of an adventure. From Friday, and for the next 88 days, I’m going to be living and working from Buenos Aires. I’ve never been before, I’ve never worked 100% remotely before and right now my Spanish is hovering just above beginner! However, after a Sunday spent packing, recycling and planning – I really can’t wait!
Working online is an exciting way to earn a living. So much has changed in terms of how we market our businesses because of the web and equally, so much is now possible for us as to where we run our businesses. In order to make this summer adventure possible, I’ve had to research and utilise a number of web driven resources. Once I’m settled in BA, we’ll get back to some solid SEO posts, but for now here’s the tools that have helped me make this summer a remote control and adventurous one!
High Speed Internet Access
An absolute must and without which, none of the below would matter! Provided by an excellent apartment in the famous San Telmo region of BA.
Keeping In Touch
Email is one thing, but it’s good to keep in ‘voice’ contact with those that matter both professionally and personally. Skype is one of the greatest advancements of the web and certainly the best way to stay in close contact with anyone, wherever they are in the world. Especially for my trip, I also took out a Skype online number (with a Leeds code) so clients and contacts are able to call my laptop from conventional landlines and mobiles.
All Files Available Online
To work remotely, the web has to be your file server. I’ve used a combination of Dropbox and a very nifty service offered by Richard and Howard at Selestial. Selestial’s HQ is a CRM system that makes all H2 email, calendar, client contact and job notes accessible from a single url. This means that at H2 we can run jobs collectively from across the globe. My visit to BA has also pushed us to upload all of our individual work files too. This allows us to access all client design, coding and archived files via an extended Selestial system.
In addition to the above, Dropbox offers an instant backup to everything I’m doing on my machine. I run a lot of my SEO tests and ideas outside of the company system. I also wanted to ensure all of my personal files (travel insurance, booking details etc ) were all accessible too. Dropbox provides an complete backup to absolutely everything I’m up to that is available instantly online and to any new machine I may find myself using.
Gmail
Part of storing all of your files online for me also involves taking full advantage of Gmail and their wonderful applications. Google let me store my ideas, notes, software reg details, favourite blogs and personal files and emails. Additionally, Google also has a good chat service which acts as a fine backup to Skype.
Delicious
The final part of making your work files available online comes, for me, courtesy of Delicious. This bookmarking service allows me to instantly access all of my numerous regularly visited webpages. As I use a number of online, 3rd party services in my SEO work, having them to hand wherever I go is a wonderful thing.
A Powerful Laptop
I’m a devil for running many things at once and hence I need a machine that’s happy to do so. When your working abroad, you also need a machine that’s easy to transport and carry around any new areas you may be exploring. This blogpost is typed by my new ‘trip’ laptop which weighs only 1.8kg and comes with 4GB RAM and a dual core processor, more than enough to run all of my programs and browser plugins easily.
Remote working is more possible and easier than it ever has been, and I’m hoping I’ve got it right for me by using the above. If there’s anything you feel I could, or should, have looked at – do let me know. Next time, I’ll be posting from new shores and hoping to find some new SEO tips from the other side of the world!
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