How to Temporarily Live Abroad While Operating Your Small Business

Do you have plans to travel and live abroad for a short period? Maybe you want to visit several countries during your travels, spending a few months out of the country. So, what happens if you own a small business, does that mean your dream of temporarily living abroad is over? Not at all. Instead, it’s about proper planning and using a variety of tools and steps that will make managing/operating your business seamless no matter where you are working from.

Choose Your Accommodations Wisely

Perhaps the most important tip is to choose your accommodations wisely. Sure, it’s nice to be located near all the attractions and sights, but more importantly, the accommodations need to be conducive to working. This means having a desk and an area to spread out to do your work. Your accommodations need high-speed reliable internet access, and you may want to have a business center nearby.

If you plan on staying in one place for more than a couple of weeks, a long-stay hotel or apartment could be wise with an extra bedroom you can use as your office.

Make Sure All Documents and Files are In the Cloud

Because you need to have access to your company files and documents, they should be stored on a Cloud server. All you need is your laptop and the internet, and it will be as though you’re in the office back at home.

Get a Virtual Postal Mailbox

Another issue that you’ll need to deal with is how to still have access to your postal mail while living abroad. A good solution is to look into a virtual postal mailbox. This can provide businesses with a physical mailing address for business and then their employees will open all your mail and scan it into your virtual mailbox. You can access this mailbox from any location, which means you can be just as productive and not worry about missing mail while living outside the country. You can view, forward and manage all your mail in your virtual mailbox, making it a practical solution.

Travel with the Must-Have Tech Accessories

To be productive there are also specific tech accessories you’ll want to travel with. This list will vary depending on your business and the type of work you’ll be doing. Generally speaking, you want to bring your laptop and charger, an external hard drive, an external keyboard (use a folding Bluetooth keyboard to save space in luggage) and a headset.

Keep Regular Business Hours

While it may be tempting to spend much of your day exploring your surroundings, if you want your business to continue to operate smoothly it will be important to keep regular business hours. You need to allow yourself enough time to get your work done and be available to staff, customers and clients. This can be tricky if there is a time difference, so be sure to work that into your schedule.

Thanks to technology and some other tips and techniques, temporarily traveling and living abroad while operating your small business is not only possible, but it can also be a relatively smooth process.