A Brief Guide to Becoming a Professional Travel Freelancer
As a passionate traveler, the financial aspect is one of the trickiest factors that can determine the quality of your traveling, the fulfillment of your needs, and the overall quality of your present experience.
If you happen to be a freelancer or a remote employee, traveling on the long term, for as long as you want can be possible. The perks of the freelancing career are favoring traveling more than any type of job, as the independence and flexibility of your schedule determine your power of modeling your lifestyle exactly the way you want.
Nevertheless, traveling and freelancing (in a serious way) is harder than it may appear, especially if you’ve never done it before.
What do we, freelancers, hate the most? Distractions. And with traveling, distractions will be the norm of every day. Obviously, we must become more disciplined and organized and build enough strength to say “NO” whenever we have to.
But let’s leave that for later, as it’s already covered in today’s brief guide to becoming a professional travel freelancer. Here are our most important tips for optimizing your freelancing performance while still making the most of your traveling journeys:
1. Choose Favorable Places
What is a favorable place? Well, as freelancers, we have certain needs that are not negotiable. For example, we need electrical power to plug in our computers and devices, as well as an Internet connection.
We also need a little bit of silence to work peacefully, some fun places to break the routine, perhaps a nice suite equipped with enough utilities to be able to cook your own food, and the list could go on depending on each one’s preference.
Choosing a favorable place is also related to money. If you travel to a 3rd world country, you’ll be able to afford a lot more than if you’ll book a place in Dubai.
Most importantly, use your intuition and decide with your heart. Your choice is important because your travel plan is the roadmap of your next following months or years.
2. Plan Your Trip Carefully
Once you’ve decided a place, do your research very carefully and cover the following aspects:
What’s the average accommodation price? How much am I willing to pay considering the accommodation’s condition?
Is there a Wi-Fi connection? How well does it work?
How much does the food cost? How much will I spend on an average lunch?
What can I visit? What can I do? What can I experience?
What are the disadvantages of this location?
How are the people?
When will I leave to the next location? What is the next destination?
Once you choose a city, make sure you consult TripAdvisor and other sources that offer reviews for local places. Once you get there, ensure that you know where your closest supermarket, bus station, hospital, or bank is.
3. Set a Travel Budget
One of the most important things you can do to ensure that you’re keeping your finances in check is to set and commit to a pre-established budget.
Take some time to plan your expenses and your limits. How much will you spend on food and shopping each week? How much do you plan to save each month? Keep your expenses under control, or else your traveling will become a sudden nightmare.
4. Settle Things at Home
Before you begin your trip, settle everything at home. Make sure the pets are being taken care of, that your plants are watered by the neighbor, that your family is in peace with your decisions, and that everything’s in order.
Don’t leave without settling your business first. If you have debts or promises to fulfill, finish that and go after.
5. Always Have an Emergency Fund Ready and Available
I’d suggest you have this fund before your traveling, though you can always risk and build it up in the process.
An emergency fund is absolutely necessary when you venture yourself into the unknown. Traveling brings a long of uncertainty. One day everything might be glooming, the second day your wallet and laptop gets stolen by a local gang. What do you do now?
I’d suggest you have at least one or two thousand dollars saved up somewhere safe, somewhere other than your pockets or wallet.Keep them in the bank if you please, but make sure that you’ll be able to access them even if your card gets stolen.
6. Buy a Long-Lasting Laptop Battery
A pro freelancing tip. Buy a long-lasting laptop battery and your life will get better. I promise!
Look, what if your next trip involves a beautiful beach that’s very close to your accommodation? Doing your freelancing work on the beach could be the dream that comes true, though your battery might stand in your way.
A long-lasting laptop battery is ideal for any freelancer who’s on the road. You can’t deny the importance of this recharging responsibility, and you can do nothing but improve your circumstances by paying for a super battery.
7. Make Sure that Internet Connection Never Represents a Problem
Everywhere you go, the Internet must be present. There are many ways to connect to the world wide web today, from Wi-Fis to mobile connections – they all work. However, when you’re on the road, there will be plenty of locations and spots where no type of connection will exist.
If you have critical deadlines, make sure you plan your trip wisely and you don’t “run out of signal” when you’re not supposed to.
8. Get Insurance
Health comes first, anything else after. Getting an international insurance package is critical, as you never want to be indebted with hundreds of dollars for a broken leg or arm. The freelance traveling journey would be over, and only because you’ve neglected your insurance.
9. Deal with The Necessary Paperwork
If you need to declare your presence in a country, do it right after you get there. If you need to deal with any other sort of paperwork, finish these duties first and enjoy your trip after.
Be in check with everything demanded and do your research well. Don’t get caught off guard by foreign laws that you were supposed to know and respect, as it’s never pleasant!
10. Plan to Get More Done in Less Time
If you’re working ten hours a day, seven days a week, your traveling experience is basically sabotaged. As a freelancer, you can dictate your own terms and establish your own work schedule.
I’d advise you organize your schedule better, make time for exercise to build energy, eat healthily, and most importantly, stay focused. When you work, you work. There’s nothing between.
Try to work smarter instead of longer. Sometimes, working less but in a more intense way is much more productive than taking your time and wasting your all day being busy.
11. Automate & Outsource Everything You Can
Every freelancer is different, of course, though there’s something that we can all do to improve our existence.
Automation and outsourcing. Nowadays, there are hundreds of marketing automation tools that can simplify our work experience. From social media scheduling to email marketing segmentation, we can find plenty of solutions for our specific fields of activity.
As for content and communication, hiring professional writers is an ace up the sleeve. For example, a writer can polish your documents, improve your communication with clients, and help you get access to better opportunities. I always collaborate with an academic writer, as these individuals are better prepared in the art of content creation. Some sources I use are:
12. Make Time for Fun
Make some time for fun. After all, traveling is supposed to be fun, so don’t deny yourself the chance of experiencing as many happy and exciting moments. Balancing the work and personal life has always been a great way to stay fulfilled. Otherwise, you risk getting consumed by your work and you’ll start losing the pleasure of traveling.
13. Stay Positive and Focus on the Present Moment
Traveling is not always a pleasure. Missing your family, spouse, or friends is one of the disadvantages that may suddenly arise in your life.
On the other hand, you might stop liking your location and you might start missing home. Another problem can be the work conditions. Your salary might be decreased, or you may risk losing your clients.
Whenever “life puts you down”, take a deep breath and urge yourself to remain positive. Live the present moment, as they say, and focus on one thing at a time. Plan the wayout of the mess you might be in and stay confident.
Takeaways
The freelancing life is both tough and rewarding at the same time. Most people desire financial stability and freedom. Freelancing can offer both of these benefits as long as it is performed smartly and effectively.
Take our tips and tricks into consideration and take your freelancing journeys to the next level. Work smarter, not harder, enjoy the present moment and keep walking the path.
Author Bio
Scott Mathews is a passionate traveller who works remotely for MyAssignmentWriting and Esssayontime.com
He started his freelancing journey as a social media marketer at EduGeeksClub and began traveling three years ago, the momenthegraduated college.
