When I say work from anywhere, I literally mean work from anywhere. The best part about my work is that I can take my phone with me when I’m out and about and still get work done. One of my favorite things to do is go to the beach with my family, let the kids run around and jump in the water while I have my laptop with me under an umbrella. If a local client wants to meet, I usually ask them to meet me at a beach, I’ll set up 2 beach chairs, bring my lap desk, mouse, laptop and start working with them. When they sit down and stare out at the horizon, they feel a sense of relaxation. This helps ease their mind away from the stresses of work. I’ve also met them up at a nice view overlooking Diamond Head in Oahu which also removes stress from their eye muscles. I’ve also met them in the jungle in Maui next to a waterfall, and they’re always happy to get out of the office!
My setup is very simple. I make sure my laptop and phone are fully charged, take my lap desk, mouse, ear buds, chair, connect my computer to my wifi hotspot and take a call if they client wants to get on a video call or screen share. I always make sure I have an AC adapter in my car which hooks up to the cigarette lighter, then I can plug my laptop on it if my laptop battery is running low or if my wife and I are taking a drive somewhere. I take these things with me wherever I go. If I’m locally moving around, I always make sure I have my portable battery in my car. I am currently using a Duracell powerpack pro 1300 that cost me about $179 at Costco in Maui. I can hook up 2 USB’s, and 2 outlets. I can charge my phone, go pro, drone, Canon camera, laptop, not to mention it has an air compressor and it can jump a car battery. Thankfully I’ve never had to use the latter. When only charging my laptop, this battery will charge my Macbook Pro 16 about 1.5 times on a single charge. I’ve never needed anymore than that. There are much better batteries than this one with more power, so go out and do some research! It’s very convenient when you can have a mobile office at such a low cost. This is the reason I haven’t rented an office in such a long time. I’ve paid $2,600, $1,400 and $350 for shared office space in the past. If you must have an office, I suggest looking into WeWork or something similar that has free coffee, tea, you can network with others and it’s just a great environment and it can be very inexpensive. But if you want to enjoy your freedom and save the money, you can totally do it using my methods.
I’ve also taken trips to Mexico, taken my laptop for a couple weeks at a time, pop in my earbuds and start taking notes with the client on a video call. They love it! It makes them feel like they’re living vicariously through me. Living in Hawaii is great because I’ve held meetings in person at the beach in my board shorts and it’s really the culture out here so it’s very accepted.
After I have a quick video or phone meeting on a laptop at the beach, I can jump into the water and surf, snorkel with the kids, it’s just so fun to be your own boss and having that much freedom.
Also, when using my phone as a hotspot for wifi, it’s pretty fast and doesn’t consume as much data as you would think. For the last 6 years I’ve been using Cricket Wireless which is a step down from AT&T where I was paying much more. I pay $100 for 4 lines with Cricket Wireless where I used to pay $150 for 2 lines 7 years ago. Another great thing about Cricket is that it only costs $10 extra a month to get 15 gigs of hotspot on your device. I usually don’t go over unless I go camping, to another island or out of state. I just got back from a 6 day camping trip in Hana, Maui and I paid $20 for 30 gigs of hotspot.
If you have a laptop, just look for a lap desk at a Best Buy, Walmart or any computer store, a wireless mouse, a headset, enable your phones hotspot with your carrier and voila! You have a mobile office! I’ve been using this method for a while and it allows me to run my 2 agencies on the go while enjoying my freedom.
My home office studio is also fun, I have 2 large monitors, a green screen, standup desk, tons of guitars, music recording equipment. But my favorite office is being outside the office because it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like fun!
