Some tips for running a business that allows you to travel permanently

It’s been 14 months since my husband and I set out to travel the world permanently and run our business on the move.

In that time we’ve picked up an average of one client in each place we’ve visited and plenty more besides. We’ve moved from a predominantly UK-centric client base to having clients in Australia, Dubai, the US, South Africa, Grenada, Europe and more.

After a couple of changes in what we do along the way (from business coaching to professional blogging to online marketing consultancy and web/blog design), we’ve learned a huge amount about what it takes to keep a business running when you change ‘homes’ every 2-3 months.

If you’re planning to do the same, here are a few things you might like to consider…

1 – When you’re first starting out, focus on creating a guaranteed stream of income for at least the first few months. We did it by signing up 10-12 coaching clients who were all on 12 month contracts; this guaranteed us a minimum income of $5,000 every month for at least the first 9 months.

2 – Maintaining focus on a business whilst you’re surrounded by some of the most exotic scenery you’ve ever seen in your life can be hard; it’s easy to get distracted, lose focus on your business and fall into a false sense of security. You just have to remind yourself that if you don’t keep the income flowing in, you’ll have to go home and get a job…there’s no better motivation than that!

3 – The most valuable skill you can learn is marketing (especially online if you’re planning to move around a lot) and how to attract clients. Once you’ve learned these skills, it doesn’t matter what business you run or how many times you change what you do, you’ll know how to attract customers in the first place and get the money coming in.

4 – Always ensure you keep the lines of communication open; if you’re servicing clients and customers from afar, you are going to need to be contactable. It is well worth your time becoming familiar with online communication tools like Skype and other VOIP services, Gmail, Earthclass Mail for snail mail and other online collaboration tools that let you keep in touch and share information across the ‘net more easily from wherever you are.

5 – Consider multiple streams of income. Useful if one starts to dry up or you decide you want to drop one and start something new, multiple streams of income spread the risk of being left with nothing. We have a number of different streams which include the business income, money generated from our websites and blogs via affiliate income and sales of ebooks and money we earn from our ‘hobbies’ (illustration for my husband and freelance writing for me).

Whilst some of you may despair that building all of this up will take you months and months, it doesn’t have to. We did it in the 3-4 months before we left.

If you’ve no prior business experience, marketing skills nor have any idea about how to set up your own website/blog and market yourself online, then it might just take you a bit longer…but once you’ve learned these skills, you’ll have them for life.