Expert travel storyteller Jordan Adkins, founder of InspiredByMaps.com, brings a decade of adventures across 101 countries and 450+ UNESCO sites into rich, off-the-beaten-path narratives, melding ecological expertise with genuine, seasoned travel insights. His full bio can be found here.
There are so many people who want to live a life of travel but are geographically constrained to their 9 to 5 jobs. The job gets the bills paid but leaves little to no time or money to travel.
With most full-time jobs, you get two weeks of vacation time that can be split through the course of a year… some employees use that time and some are so overworked that they don’t give themselves a chance to use the time they’ve worked so hard for.
Unfortunately, that’s the life of so many hardworking people. They want to travel more but can’t seem to get out of the rut of working their 9 to 5 job. That reason alone is why so many people completely break away from corporate America and start taking the necessary steps to becoming their own boss.
People have been sharing their experiences of being able to travel the world from Auckland to Iceland, Providence to the UAE – and run their online business for quite some time now… The question is, why haven’t you started yet?
It’s, of course, much easier said than done but it’s also not impossible to do. There are just some actions you need to put in motion in order to get your business off the ground… simple as that right?
Okay, it may not be “as simple as that” so let’s dig a little deeper into what it’s going to take to run a successful business while traveling the globe.
Set Realistic Goals
When people first decide to get into e-commerce and build an online store, they immediately think that all they have to do is build their website, post products to sell, and the money will start rolling in. No, it doesn’t work like that… In fact, it can take several weeks and even months before you start earning the money you’re hoping for. With that in mind, that’s all the more reason you need to make sure you’re not just setting goals, but that you’re setting realistic goals.
“I want to earn $1000 each month for the entire year and acquire seven new subscribers and/or customers.”
That would be an example of a clear and realistic goal to set when first starting out. This particular part is so important because it’s what’s going to give you your purpose with your business. You also don’t want to set yourself up with goals you’d never achieve, just starting out. Although the actual building of your online store can happen in a day, it’s very rare that success does. Take the time out to assess your business goals to see if they’re achievable.
Choose the Right E-Commerce Platform
The platform you use to build your online store is going to be the very thing that will end up saving you lots of time, money, and energy in the grand scheme of things. Building your online store on a platform that’s user-friendly is going to free up some of your time to focus on other important things.
It’s not that building your online store isn’t important but it’s important to recognize that if you’re spending too much time trying to figure out how to set your store up, it’s going to be taking you away from other aspects of running your business. You need to find the best website builder that’s not only going to allow you to build your store while you’re on-the-go but you want to find one that’s also going to provide themes that make your site look professional.
Ultimately, you want a website builder that’s going to be easy for you to use, regardless of how tech-savvy you are or aren’t, and prevent you from having to hire someone.
Remember, with your online business, as long as you have access to the internet, you can sell from anywhere in the world.
Manage Your Time
The whole point of you leaving your full-time job is to be able to travel more, right? Yes. And the solution you’re choosing is to own an online store. In balancing working and traveling, you’re going to have to set aside time to work and, of course, take some time to explore your destinations… If you don’t take time to enjoy your travels, then what’s the point of traveling in the first place?
So, time management is going to play a significant role in how you have the best of both worlds. To use your time efficiently, you’re going to want to make a weekly schedule based on your answers to these questions:
- Do you work more efficiently in the morning or at night?
- How many hours a day (or night) do you want to work?
- When will your off days be? Weekends or random?
In answering those questions, it’s absolutely important that you make sure you’re taking breaks and scheduling yourself off days… Not doing so can lead to burnout. According to entrepreneur.com, entrepreneurs are the individuals who are most at risk simply because they’ve invested so much into their business the idea of failure is unfathomable. That’s why it’s so important to schedule off days to unplug and enjoy the destination you’re in… if you don’t, then that circles back to the question of why are you traveling?
Utilize Dropshipping As Your Fulfillment Solution
The fact that you’re going to be traveling all over the world means that you’re not going to have time to take all your products with you and ship them from wherever you are… the last thing you want is to be trying to enjoy all the fun things to do in Shanghai but stressing about you’re going to fulfill that large batch of orders… Dropshipping is going to be your best option for getting your products to your customers.
Yes, you can leave your products at home and have friends or family members handle that for you but why bother with the hassle of that when you can just utilize the ease and convenience of dropshipping? With dropshipping, you never have to lay a hand on any of your products. The dropshipping company you use is going to house and ship all your products to your customers, freeing up mental space to actually enjoy your travels!
