Tools & Resources

Lifestyle Design - A Framework And Guide To The Blogosphere That Will Help You Do It

Posted by Lea Woodward

Photo by Exothermic
If you’re reading this blog post and you follow this blog then the chances are that you, like me, are a bit of a blog addict and also probably a blogger yourself - or thinking about it!
But if the past few months back in the corporate world have taught me anything, it’s that [...]

Photo by Exothermic

If you’re reading this blog post and you follow this blog then the chances are that you, like me, are a bit of a blog addict and also probably a blogger yourself - or thinking about it!

But if the past few months back in the corporate world have taught me anything, it’s that the vast majority of people in the real world still don’t ‘get’ blogs yet alone follow any (and probably save themselves a huge amount of time in the process or waste it on something else).

Having spent the best part of 3 months being forced to take a step back from the blogosphere, I’ve had to get brutal with my feedreader and cull my feeds down to a bare minimum of the ones I really do want to read.

My criteria for the great big blog cull? Does this blog continually add value to my life and help me achieve the things I want to achieve or is it just fluff? Know how many made the cut? Just 6 (out of over 100).

But what does streamlining a feed reader have to do with lifestyle design?

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Categories : Becoming A Location Independent Professional, Tools & Resources

Review: Earth Class Mail - Receive Your Postal Mail Online

Posted by Lea Woodward

I’ve seen a number of lists around the blogosphere recently from other LIPs, web workers and modern nomads who’re catching on to some of the more essential tools to replace the conveniences of having a permanent base.
I’ve mentioned Earth Class Mail before - it’s the mailing service we’ve been using for a year or so [...]

I’ve seen a number of lists around the blogosphere recently from other LIPs, web workers and modern nomads who’re catching on to some of the more essential tools to replace the conveniences of having a permanent base.

I’ve mentioned Earth Class Mail before - it’s the mailing service we’ve been using for a year or so now to help deal with snail mail whilst we’re overseas. In fact, Earth Class Mail (ECM) also promote the fact that having an ECM address is ideal for other things too, including:

  • People who move house frequently and don’t want to keep changing their address with numerous services (that would have been us even before we became LIPs!!!).
  • RV fans who live on the road with no fixed address.
  • Business travellers who don’t get home frequently enough to check the mail.

Having used it for a while now I thought I’d post a brief review and a description of how the service works, for those of you who are looking for a service which lets you get your mail from anywhere.

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Categories : Tools & Resources

The Essential Skills You Need To Run A Location Independent Business - And How To Tool Up

Posted by Lea Woodward

Photo by flattop341
As someone who comes from a corporate background of management consulting, one of the things I found the most thrilling about our journey to becoming location independent was the “skilling up” required… I love learning new stuff.
In consulting, it was the constant need to learn something new, to assume the status of an [...]

toolbox.jpg

Photo by flattop341

As someone who comes from a corporate background of management consulting, one of the things I found the most thrilling about our journey to becoming location independent was the “skilling up” required… I love learning new stuff.

In consulting, it was the constant need to learn something new, to assume the status of an expert amongst far more experienced people and in all honesty, to be able to blag with the best of them which created the love/hate relationship I had with consulting.

One day I’d be cramming my brain with everything I could find out about credit management for a global bank, the next it could be refreshing my knowledge on the client journey to talk to the Customer Relations director of a global cellphone company; but the fear that I would some day be “found out” nagged at me in the background and overshadowed the challenge and thrill of all that learning.

These days, running my own business and writing my own blogs, presentations and marketing materials, I only write about and sell what I know - the things I’ve got experience in and what I’ve actually done successfully myself.

I live safe in the knowledge that my skills are usually good enough, that the depth of knowledge is sound and that I can basically deliver what I promise to deliver. That can’t be said of everyone sadly.

But this isn’t another rant about how some bloggers blag with the best of them and advise others on things they’ve never done (which irks me something chronic too), it is a post about the essential skills I believe you need if you’re aiming to become location independent by running a business of some sort…and how you can skill up if you find yourself lacking.

Here they are…

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Categories : Becoming A Location Independent Professional, Tools & Resources

Online Apps Vs. Desktop Apps And Dealing With eClutter: Some Food For Thought For LIPs

Posted by Lea Woodward

Photo by *Solar Ikon*
In the race to escape the cubicle and ditch the desk so you can work from anywhere and become location independent, many of you are turning to online apps, digitalisation and computer-centric solutions. What would happen though in the following scenarios…

Your access to a power supply was limited?
Your access to the internet [...]

eclutter.jpg

Photo by *Solar Ikon*

In the race to escape the cubicle and ditch the desk so you can work from anywhere and become location independent, many of you are turning to online apps, digitalisation and computer-centric solutions. What would happen though in the following scenarios…

  1. Your access to a power supply was limited?
  2. Your access to the internet was limited?

Read the rest of this entry

Categories : Business Tips, Tools & Resources