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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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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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?

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Photo by Arjenfoto

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Joanna Young. Find out more about Joanna at the bottom of this post.

Can writing give us a ticket to ride? I think so.

I’m not location independent (yet).  But I’m confident the investment I’m making in creating and maintaining a strong written web presence will stand me in good stead when the time comes to change where I live – or shift to living location free.

We’re not talking Pulitzer prize winning writing here.  Yes, freelance writing is an attractive career option for LIPs, either as your lead focus or part of your wider portfolio.   But that’s not what I mean by “writing well on the web”…

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