11 Essential Tools for Working on the Road

Could you spend three weeks working away from your office?

There are a variety of technological tools, personal assistance and attitude adjustments that can help you keep business going while you are working on the road.  Below is a list of 11 essential tools to help you while travelling…

 

1. Mobile Hotspot

Most hotels, rest stops and airports have Wi-Fi, but there’s a lot that can go wrong. It’s on the fritz, or you have trouble signing in, or it doesn’t reach where you are, or there’s too many others are using the signal and it slows to an impossible crawl. Whatever the case, it’s a good idea to have your own mobile hotspot along and they’re so small and have such good battery life there’s no reason not to. 

2. Laptop with long battery life

Having a laptop with long battery life, even with heavy use without a charge is essential, for example for long flights, sessions in cafes with no handy outlet, and other times when you need to work uninterrupted for a long while without the benefit of electricity.

3. Smartphone with tethering

Internet access is so important that in addition to seeking out hotels and dining establishments that supply Wi-Fi and having a mobile hotspot, tethering (e.g. a mobile hotspot) is also useful to have set up on your smartphone.

You may be questioning why would I need both a phone and a mobile hotspot? For one thing, all mobile providers put data limits on their plans and having that mobile data available on your phone for when you need it.

4. Tablet

A lot of people these days are switching to tablets.  Why would you need both a tablet and a laptop? Tablets are much lighter, usually have longer battery life than a laptop, and is easy to carry into a restaurants and transport etc.  Using a tablet for keeping up with social media, reading, and watching video can be easier than using a laptop.

5. Bluetooth keyboard for the tablet

Text entry is such a big part of most workdays, when using a tablet a keyboard would be useful and the good old qwerty keyboard is the most efficient way of writing text, especially when writing more than a couple of sentences.

6. Cloud-based storage

If you never know where you’ll be from one week to the next, being able to store, back up, access, and share your files in the cloud can make a huge difference.  Apps such as: Mozy for backup, Box to store and share image files with collaborators, and Google Drive for collaborative documents.  It is important to have your work stored in the cloud if you need it.

7. Syncing file software

This is not the same as cloud storage, although the two types of software have a lot of similarities. Dropbox reproduces work files from any computer to any other computer, and makes them also accessible from tablet and smartphone.  Another software is Evernote, which does the same with notes and web pages you want to save.

8. Text-based notifications

When you’re not in the office all day long, it’s way too easy to miss important stuff, especially if your not always online.  An option here is to have notifications come to you by text message for example such as flight status, adverse weather, bank balance, voicemail messages, and emails from most important contacts via AwayFind. It’s amazing how much useful information you can get by text message.

9. Virtual assistance

Even if you’re a solopreneur, it’s so easy and painless these days to hire virtual help for as few or as many hours as you need that it doesn’t make sense not to do it.

10. Flexibility

We all know that things won’t always go as you planned, that uncertainty is one reason to have so much redundancy in your systems–if one fails, you can switch to another.

But it’s just as important to have flexibility as a mindset. Does jet lag have you up early? Maybe that’s a good time to catch up on essential matters so you can go to bed earlier later on. Stuck in an airport unexpectedly? Use your laptop with its long-lived battery to whip out a report or important emails. Whatever you do, don’t be rigid about when and how you have to do things. That’s the surest way to frustration.

11. Respect for your own needs

Just as important as being flexible is taking your own needs seriously.  Whether it’s time for a morning run or a couple of hours off in the late afternoon, make sure you’re getting whatever you need to work at your best, even within a heavy travel schedule. Taking care of yourself, physically, mentally, and in terms of how you need to work is the most important travel perk of all, and it’s one only you can supply.