Travel part of your new web design career new freedoms plan? Read this first!
MEET helen 👋
(Newest PB team member and proud owner of Rising Tide Creatives🤌)
Some of you may remember this lovely face from our recent 4 Simple Steps to double your site sales training - she’s also the gal you’ll usually find replying to your emails in the PB inbox!
But today, she's sharing some of the things to think about if you’re planning to re-locate or travel with that new web design career!
So without further ado...
Web designer tips: travel successfully with your web design business
Hey 👋! Helen here!
My web design career started in March 2020, getting the call from my boss to say no work tomorrow.
That tomorrow turned into “or ever again” (thanks pandemic!) and I found myself, mid 30s, no job, in a country where I didn’t speak the lingo not knowing what to do next.
Cue creating my first Squarespace website so that I could offer online yoga classes - a way to do something, anything, productive during lock down - getting my first enquiries from friends who’d seen my site and wanted something similar, and then finding and taking Square Secrets Business™.
By Summer 2020 a new career direction was born - see some studio highlights below 👇
Long story short, 3 years on, I have a successful career as a Squarespace web designer - with a growing business that continues to fulfill and excite me and funds my lifestyle as well as being one that I can structure around the adventures I want to have (I’m also a newbie on team PB - another great joy in my Biz life!).
And as I write this I’m booked 4 months in advance with my client projects and taking a moment at home in Martinique after recently returning from a bunch of trips at the end of last year (hiking in Italy, an extended Spanish road trip, Paris & the UK for Christmas and lots of Caribbean fun times to name a few highlights). Pics or it didn’t happen 👇
I’ve chosen to be predominantly based in Martinique in the French Caribbean where I get to surf 🏄♀️ every day, sip cocktails on the beach 🍹 and spend quality time with the steady stream of family and friends 👪 who are queuing up to visit!! But with my choice of career, if I prefer to be elsewhere, I can be - it’s simply a case of grabbing my laptop and hopping on the next flight ✈️!
Getting to that place was hard won though, and there are a bunch of things I wish I’d known at the beginning when I had just started out and was trying to construct this new lifestyle for myself.
If you’re thinking that a new career in web design is a great fit with your travel goals or dreams of living and working in a faraway land, I wholeheartedly agree!
Here are some things to help you along the way, so you don’t make the same mistakes I did!
Oh & quickly before we jump in? What’s enabled me to embrace this joyful, flexible travel-life? Consistent clients! Struggling - make sure you catch this 👇
Know your working style & construct your rhythm around it
This goes for anyone setting up their own business but is even more relevant if you’re working for yourself and traveling, or aiming to experience a different country and culture at the same time as setting up and running your own business.
Some people get a buzz out of doing bits and pieces in and amongst their schedule, working without a routine and enjoying the freedom and flexibility this brings - waterfall hike in the morning, building a home page in the avo, before a few emails on the flight to the next destination… anyone?!
Me, I realized as much as that sounded awesome, it was actually stressful. I prefer a routine with working hours, and then clear time off to travel and enjoy the places I’m in.
I like staying put in one place for longer, and making a base there as opposed to working and holidaying at the same time. I also need longer stretches of working time to really get into what I’m doing - 30 minutes here and there whilst waiting for a plane, train or automobile just doesn’t work for me!
Whatever your style is, I’m convinced that there’s a way to set yourself up with a rhythm that works well for you, to allow you to get the most out of the possibilities that traveling or living in different countries whilst running your own biz provides.
My top tip - don’t throw in the towel before you’ve tried a few different ways of doing things.
Just because you haven’t found the right rhythm yet, doesn’t mean that running your own business and traveling or setting up in a new country aren’t compatible, just that you haven’t found the way that works for you yet!
Create a social network
My biggest challenge from setting up my own business in a different country and traveling with my Biz?
Loneliness.
I used to be the director of a large team in a UK charity and after having been there for over 9 years, I knew everyone, and work was like a big family.
The transition to working for myself in a country that isn't (or at least wasn’t) home, and moving around quite a bit too means that over the last few years I’ve often found myself feeling, well, alone.
Things that have helped…
🤝 Create an online network and connections with people in the same industry (I’ve got some great pals I’ve never met IRL who are a fab support just like colleagues would be). This is great especially if you’re not sticking around anywhere very long as remote friends can be taken with you when you move!
📱 Keep up with my old friends. Although it’s been tricky to see friends and family in the flesh over the last few years, keeping up with my most special people is a priority, even blocking time in my calendar so that staying connected is as important as any other work or life commitment.
👩💻 Working from places other than home (wherever home is right now). I find I feel more connected to the outside world when I work from coffee shops, libraries or coworking spaces, it allows me to say hi to people that aren’t myself in the mirror or my husband, and really helps me feel less lonely!
🧘 Join a club or a sociable hobby. When you work for yourself you don’t get the benefit of colleagues that become mates, but joining a club or beginning a sociable hobby wherever you are is a great way to make connections (I’ve also found clients this way!)
Internet internet internet
If you run an online business you’re probably going to need the internet… thing is, depending on where you’re traveling or living, the speeds and reliability that you’re used to may not be the reality of what you find. To avoid last-minute stressful situations where you can’t join that discovery call because the wifi is too slow I recommend the following…
Ask ahead of time if the internet is fast & stable. Pop a quick message to your AirBnB host, and/ or a local café or library as a back up to check you have options (especially if you have something important in the diary).
Invest in a great data plan on your phone that you can use as a back up if needed.
Try to join calls a bit in advance, and/or check as soon as you arrive somewhere to give yourself a bit of breathing space to find a solution if technology is letting you down.
Take your modem with you for house viewings if you’re moving house or taking a medium term rental somewhere (we actually did this!) so we could see whether the internet speed would be good enough. You can also ask to try out the wifi when you’re doing a house viewing to check that it’ll work - buying or renting a new home and finding out later on that you can’t work from there … not ideal!
Create your business model around your lifestyle
This is one I’m still refining and working on - especially with my new gig Chez PB, but it goes without saying that a Squarespace webdesign business can look a hundred different ways.
Do you do day-rates, custom design, semi-custom design or are you more into opening a template shop?
The fab thing is, that with a Squarespace web design business any (or all!) of these are possible. Along with a strong knowledge of your ideal clients and what they’re looking for, it’s important to consider what business model works best around your lifestyle.
Some of the things to consider (with no right or wrong answer) are:
What is your time difference with clients (and does this change). Is it realistic to work on long term projects and have regular update calls with people on different timezones?
Do you plan, or prefer to have long stretches of working time, with long stretches or non-working or holiday time, or to have more of a patchwork day on/ day off approach. This might highlight whether a day or project set up fits you best.
Are you likely to have internet connection issues, or other things that mean you might struggle to be connected enough for 1:1 client work? If so could templates, courses or other less client facing work be a solution to this?
I’m still figuring this one out, but see so many possibilities to get creative with my business model to allow me to have the best set up that works around my travel plans.
Finally… dull but necessary…
Understand the rules
Before you begin working from anywhere for more than a week or two (including your home country) make sure you know the rules first! I’m no employment lawyer, but you will want to get clear on how this works where you’re based (however temporarily).
Coming from the UK it’s pretty simple in our parts to be self-employed, but navigating this status in France (and in French) was a little more complicated.
If you’re moving somewhere medium or long term - make sure to give yourself a little time to get set up, especially if you’re navigating this in a different language.
I put loads of pressure on myself at the beginning to get everything done quickly - and this led to me being morrree than just a little stressed out.
Be kind to yourself when navigating a different system, and get help if you need it - this is one area you definitely want to get right!
Final thoughts
my biggest lesson has been to understand that “you doing you”, or “me doing me” is the most important thing.
Instagramable coconuts 🥥 whilst tippy tapping on a mac by the pool 💻 might be attractive, but for me it’s not realistic, nor fun (I prefer my pool time sans laptop thanks!)
A career as a web designer gives the gift of incredible flexibility and almost endless options when it comes to travel, or setting up in a new country - so be led by your values, priorities and how you want it to look as opposed to anyone else’s view and you can’t go far wrong!
