Welcome!

[jock]

How do you freelance guys handle vacations? I'm going on vacation in exactly 1 month today for 4 weeks! I'm not sure how to handle clients while I'm on the road. I've gone on vacation before without any problems but I always carried a laptop in case of emergency, usually for 2 weeks maximum, but this time I'm backpacking so I don't really want to carry it around, nor do I want to deal with clients/emails/calls. while I'm on the road but at the same time I don't want/cant afford my business to collapse.

Someone is going to look after my hosted sites and ticket system, but he knows nothing about HTML/PHP, so if anything was to go wrong with someone's site, then he couldn't fix it. I'd need to go into an internet cafe or something and try and fix it remotely. Not sure how well this would work! I'm not keen on hiring someone.

Just wondering if anyone can give me any tips or suggest some articles to look at, thx! What about running your business on the road too? what about things like paying invoices etc? Is it possible or am I freaking out too much?

[EvoDy]

Whoever is backing you up needs to know the difference between a bs "I need you" and an emergency. I've gone on vacation before and not had one call. Before leaving, my clients new I would be out an unavailable. If it were extremely urgent I would take time, but the God honest truth is that there really isn't much that could happen that would require immediate attention (unless your server housing burned to the ground or something).

[Kaypearl]

I'm going on vacation in exactly 1 month today for 4 weeks!

Way to avoid repetition, .

I'm not sure how to handle clients while I'm on the road. I've gone on vacation before without any problems but I always carried a laptop in case of emergency, usually for 2 weeks maximum, but this time I'm backpacking so I don't really want to carry it around, nor do I want to deal with clients/emails/calls. while I'm on the road but at the same time I don't want/cant afford my business to collapse.

That's a risk. I always carry my phone around ANYWHERE, it's not as big as a laptop so you can definitely put it in your pocket while backpacking.

Plus, your backpacking, you can take a 5-minute break to reply an SMS, right?

Unless, it's a huge problem, you should have referrals ready for your clients. Ask friends maybe to help out? Or have an FAQ ready so that your clients can try solutions from there.

And a 1-month vacation is way too long if you're still focusing on your business. You should post an official letter saying all complaints will be replied in a month, .

No, you shouldn't do the last part.

[mentalic]

Well I have to be honest. I gave up backpacking/camping etc as soon as I started freelancing. If you could at least be at a place where you can visit an Internet Cafe it would be great. Of course I suggest the same as Kaypearl. You should have someone ready. Some businesses rely solely on the internet and if their site goes down then it's not ok. As for myself, I always take my laptop on vacation and mobile phone. I might not be able to answer the phone immediately or connect to a client but I always call back. I might not be able to help at all (maybe no internet connection or anything) but my clients know that i am 'near' them and I do anything logical to help them.

[Kaypearl]

Of course I suggest the same as Kaypearl.

Thanks for the mention!

I might not be able to answer the phone immediately or connect to a client but I always call back. I might not be able to help at all (maybe no internet connection or anything) but my clients know that i am 'near' them and I do anything logical to help them.

Seconded.

[TT_Mark]

I think you will need to have a better fallback plan than someone who knows nothing about HTML/PHP. I actually went away camping for a week earlier this month, informed a client that I was going before I took his job on and before I went, and then he emailed me when I got back claiming that I hadn't done everything he'd wanted and he missed his completion deadline (despite the jobs I hadnt done being 6 pages of A4 changes which he had sent through the day before I went!)

Its always a risk going away, especially for that long. I'm not too busy at the moment, so perhaps I could help you out on minor jobs to give you peace of mind?

[Kaypearl]

I think he already left.

[jock]

I go away on the 7th ^_^

Thanks for the suggestions, definitely decided I'm going to leave my laptop at home

Think I'm going to set up vmware on a server so I can work on that in an internet cafe if absolutely necessary. I guess I can read emails from my phone... still a bit of a risk I suppose!

[jock]

Just found I can get SSH on my phone as well

[Kaypearl]

Oh, well, that's a long time from now.

Yea, if you have a smartphone then that should be able to replace your laptop because I doubt you're going to do any coding or tough stuff while backpacking.

[niubi]

Tricky one. I'd always take a netbook with me in case of emergencies. One of the few pitfalls of the freelance lifestyle is pretty much that there's no such thing as a vacation! The best thing to do - at least, it's working for me - is to join a network like the DubLi Network and maximise the potential for earning there. That way, you can make sure that you're making money as much as possible.

[areyouvisible]

I read The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss before I started my business. Amazing!

Huge gain in freedom if the business is set up correctly for people working remotely. Autoresponders, voicemails, and proper expectations of your business is a must.