While I have not fully formed the idea yet in my mind, I can tell you that it will be moving away from the currant topic, and into a more observations of topics or something along those lines. Even though it is sort of working in my mind I am still not entirely sure what is going on and what it might turn into.

I just was excited to see that I was getting inspiration from just opening up about the situation with the blog, and I think this has helped me to see that there is potential for this blog in another topic or way.

Anyway stay posted I suspect that I will get on top of this idea and maybe get something moving by mid week. That is if the topics come to me, I know the general idea it is just hard to put in words tonight, being late, and also being quite warm, that i am sweating even at almost midnight.

Anwyay cheers to future plans.

You maybe will notice that there has been, even though my keen interest in the topic, quite a gap since I last posted here. This is a resultof a number of different factors, but ultimately it is the direction I was going with this blog was not really what I felt it should be.

The more I read back over some of the posts that I have shared since I started this blog the more it reads like a sales pitch for getting rid of your office. It hardly seems like I have been giving the greatest of examples for how to make the most use of having No Fixed Office. It seems like I have been to a large degree just force the idea on anyone that wants to read.

So this is really not what I wanted, I wanted something that highlighted my experience and such with not having an office. But it turned into something different, which in some cases is what you want to do, just go with the flow and see how things work out. However this is maybe not one of these cases.

I am still not sure if it is something that at this point I want to change in the blog or just drop the idea of being focused on no fixed office, or just use the name for something a little more light hearted and fun. I do have some ideas, but I guess it is something that I have been thinking about for a while and do not really want t just jump into to quickly.

Option 1 – This is basically to leave the blog as is and add more information when I get inspiration. Which to be honest I have not had inspiraton for this topic in months, if not over a year. I did start to put together one or two posts about my equipment again, however this did not really pan out to much.

Option 2 – Change up the whole concept behind the site. There is a few ideas that I have had for a more comical site that may include pictures of strange places to have an office, or just random places I choose to get my laptop out and do some work. Or then it could be something altogeher different just random writings from me or maybe a whole other topic specific that may just fit with the name or be totally unfitting with the name.

Option 3 – I could also consider selling the domain name and maybe even the whole website. There is quite likely someone else or many other people out there that could take the topic and run with it. If you are interested in the potential of purchasing this website please use the contact page and I will get back to you.

Anyway it is something I am going to have to think over and see what the outcome will be. It is something that only time will tell, and while I think option one is the best most inline idea with the original idea, I am thinking that option two may end up being the way that things go.

Potential changes to the Office Equipment

One thing that I have worked with but not really been that fond of is the netbook that I tend to use as my only computer while traveling. To be honest while it has served well and does get the job done, I would like something with a little more power that can get things done and multitask without so much of an issue.

The biggest issue with the computer is that by virtue a netbook uses an underpowered processor. This of course is not good for doing more then one thing at a time and will often lead to graphic work taking a lot longer then it should. So as a result I am looking at really two options.

Option 1 – Buy another Laptop, which runs on windows. This option is kind of difficult in the range that I am looking at as there are not as many 13″ laptop’s around. There is one or two, however most of them are not really as powerful as when you step up to 14″. While most people would say get the bigger one, I am trying to avoid this as I do carry this laptop around ALOT.

Option 2 – Buy an Apply Macbook PRO. This is sitting slightly ahead as my preferred option, however there are a couple of reasons I am hesitating. The first one is that from the time I have spent playing with one in the store, I am still struggling to ensure that it will do what I want it to do out of the box like the PC versions I am looking at. Spending extra on the laptop to begin with to get an Apple is one thing but then to have spent more money to get software that will do what I want it to do is another thing. The other point is that I really do not think it the wisest move to be making such a big change (from PC to MAC) with so little time between purchase and travel.

Anyway the Laptop problem, will probably end up getting left until my return from my next trip anyway.

Work Changes

After my last trip which really tested the idea of a Portable office for me while traveling, I come to the realization that travel is something I want to do more of. As such I actually resigned from my job. Which became effective in the second week of January. However I have continued working part time for the same company, which has definitely allowed to continue adding a bit of money to the savings, but has also hampered some of my efforts I was wanting to make to get an income coming in and clear out a lot of my stuff.

What this means

Ultimately this means that I will be looking to make a better use of my portable office, to the extent that I will be using it for more then just my blogging while I am traveling. In fact in the last few weeks I have started a course, which will help me to work through my writing and photography styles and ultimately enable me to be a better writer. The end goal here is to become a Freelance travel journalist. Which should hopefully help to start that income stream, as well as give me another purpose for my travel as well.

This was not really the direction I was seeing things going 6 months ago, however it is a direction that I am fairly happy to work with at the moment and just see how things pan out really.

The site was created as a place to offer these podcasts along with transcripts. You can find the site at http://www.stevepavlinapodcast.info.

I hope that you find this site useful, at the moment only podcast 1 is available however over the coming weeks this will be expanded to include all 18 podcasts which were created by Steve Pavlina.

First came the laptop, and this change was more driven by everyday use than the occasional time that initially I saw myself traveling with my laptop. I was finding that carrying a 15″ Laptop at 2.8kg everywhere was having an impact on my shoulder, which was not good. It did not take long to come across a good little alternative in the Samsung NC20. Which at 11″ weighs in somewhere around 1.5kg.

The benefit of making this move to the smaller and lighter laptop, was that I was getting a 4hr+ battery life, which means no need to carry the charger. However there was two downfalls, the first as that there was no optical drive in this laptop. Which can be solved with a external drive, however this again adds more weight. The second problem was that while multi tasking is possible, the performance does drop off fairly quickly when you start doing a few things at once.

So while I have a laptop which does really fulfill the majority of my needs, when I am traveling it still would be nice to find a laptop which was around the same weight and includes the optical drive. Another nice addition would be a SIM card slot for mobile broadband, however these are not so common.

Second item on the list was the Camera. This has been where I had a false start of sorts, but now have a solution which pretty much covers my needs. Initially I decided on buying a Canon EOS DSLR, Even though it was one of the lower models, these camera’s are still not a small item to try and pack anywhere. Especially when you have a lens or two. I initially did travel with this camera to both Canberra and Melbourne, and it did take a considerable amount of space in my carry on bag.

When I decided to travel overseas I had really decided there was two options, either buy a single lens which would cover all my needs, or buy a second camera which would be more compact and easy to take with me, while not taking up all the space in my carry on bag.

Well of course I went for the second option, who doesn’t want a new camera to play with. The choice end up with one of the new format Micro four thirds camera, specifically one my Olympus. This camera come in at half the weight and I was able to store it in a bag which takes up about one quarter of the space. An absolute benefit when you are traveling and every bit of space matters.

These are really the two things that I have had to downsize my thinking on to ensure a easier time with my travel. The weight of these items does make a really big impact when you find that you are carrying them around between flights and airports and hotels, and at the end of the day it may cost a little more but this is really worth the extra time and money.

When it came to mobile phone access. I found that I really did not need anything special with one exception. Just having my Australian Mobile on international roaming was really all I needed. What the main thing I had to remember was that it did cost more to use. Which really is not a difficult thing to do. All up for the 5 weeks I think it came in at something around $20, as I was able to avoid making or receiving phone calls while overseas. The primary use for this mobile was SMS messages, even at a cost of 75 cents this was not overaly expensive.

The one exception where I did need a phone really was in Las Vegas. As I was attending a workshop here and needed to get in touch with people, for group meet-up’s and such having a phone here was it seemed essential. Due to the cost of my Australian Mobile and it being locked to the provider, i figure it would not be a problem to buy a phone. This is where I was right, You can literally buy a phone in the US relatively cheaply, as long as you do not expect anything to outstanding in the phone you will be happy enough. $20 got me a phone which included $15 credit on the phone, and I added another $25 to this.

When it came to internet access this was a whole other story though. This was a much more expensive area then I imagined. While I had really wanted to find hotels which included the internet access, this was not really that easy to do, with only one of the hotels I stayed in having free Wifi internet access. Costs and ease of access did vary from city to city though.For the majority of stops the primary option was $14 a night in the hotel, or the equivalent in local Currency.

While I did attempt to avoid the expensive option in hotels I did need to make use of it on a number of nights. One night in Vancouver more so for convenience and 2 nights in Hong Kong. This was not really a big issue, as for the most part I was able to find alternatives to get me through. InVancouver this came down to making use of Starbucks free wifi. In Las Vegas it was again to find a cafe which offered free wifi. Both of these options just meant simply buying a coffee or something. In England was potentially the best option which was where I choose to stay in Travelodge hotels. Being that this was a 7 day stop, even though I was at different hotels each night, I was able to sign up for a 7 day account for 20 British Pounds, which got me access to the internet at every over night stop.

At the end of the day it did come down to working a little harder on getting access and maintaining access, however I did manage to post a update on my blog www.joelbrown.com.au pretty much every day with exception on the days around the workshop I attended. So I would in general call this a success.

Firstly traveling has not been such a big worry, getting through airports, is probably the most difficult in the US, it seems that their screening metal detector gates are the most sensitive, and you really have to remove every little piece of metal from your body. This is not such a big deal though, travel is travel and for your own safety you do understand and expect that some precautions are taken.

Anyway that is not really a big revelation to anyone, and not really a big part of being mobile with your office either. What the primary things that I will focus on are the mobile phone and internet services.

Mobile Phone Options

It turns out purchasing a phone overseas is somewhat more difficult then in Australia. Well at least in Canada Anyway, all I wanted was a cheap prepaid phone and to get it unlocked off the provider that supplied it, so that I can buy another prepaid sim at each stop. well This just seems to be to difficult for people in phone shops to bother with. I would have thought a Sale is a sale, big or small, every sale needs to be made. However for the most part my inquires were met with disinterest or one comment was “Not in Canada, maybe an international handset” This was when I asked about buying a handset not locked to a carrier.

So, anyway I have not really needed to make calls anyway, so I have survived, making use of SMS, which runs about 3times what it normally costs in Australia, however much cheaper then a few dollars a minute to make a call.

Mobile Internet

Again the situation is it seems kind of similar. You can purchase prepaid options more easily for mobile broadband, however once you buy the USB stick and get it unlocked this would be quite an expensive option. More expensive then just paying the high rates that the hotels offer internet for anyway.

This however has quite a good outcome, it seems that free Wi-fi is something that is quite widely available in Canada, in fact Every Starbucks is a hotspot. Along with many other coffee shops, and even Safeway offer free wifi while shopping (however coincidentally there is a starbucks in the store).

So while it has been a little more difficult and not so convenient, to get online and to get the things done that I would normally do, it has not been such a huge step to be able to get them done. In a few days this is going to be tested again when I make the move from Canada, to the USA, I hope it is more cost effective to either buy or the freedom of access to Wifi hot spots is just as good.

For the most part these question answer themselves when you are in your home city. Everything that you need is generally available to you are reasonable prices, that just make it easy for your to work with your mobile office. To many extents this does not change when you are traveling in your own country.

Where things start to get a little interesting is when you consider taking your office overseas. Many new things become challenges, which previously you may have taken for granted. Things like the weight of what you need to take with you, how you will make phone calls, access to the internet, and more than likely a handful of other things that will change by being outside the country. All of these can be worked around though.

What your portable office weights

If you have not previously traveled with your mobile office, or have just traveled short distances where weight is not a big issue, you may never have really thought about the weight of what you carry. Of course the things like your laptop and charger are the essential items that you cannot do without. Then there are the other accessories such as Mobile Broadband modem, Mouse, maybe a portable hard drive, and any number of other accessories you may see as needed. All of this adds to the weight of your bag.

Some people I think will be making the move towards an Ipad or Iphone or similar devices to take away quite a lot of the weight problem. This however creates another problem, which leaves you with a somewhat limited functionality. While for the most part you can work with everything that you may need, often there are plenty of sacrifices, depending on just what your office is needed for.

Making Phone Calls

When you go to another country most people inevitably will turn on international roaming on their mobile. But is this going to be the most cost effective option. It depends on a number of different points really. Which include but i am sure are not limited to, how long you will be in another country? How many calls you expect to make? Will they be international calls or local calls?

While I am still no where near another country at this point I suspect that buying a cheap prepaid phone will be the best option, to if nothing more have to make calls in emergency at the lowest possible cost. Even potentially for making international calls. For example In Australia, I know that my international roaming costs me a couple of dollars per minute when i visit the US, however if I call the US from Australia, I only pay a matter of cents. I expect there will be some sort of similar option, costs may very well vary but never hurts to look.

Getting on the Internet

Again like making phone calls this is something that you may take for granted at home, with the spread of mobile broadband, and the range of options which are available. However this is where international roaming gets quite expensive.

Again just like the phone, I am hoping that there will be a cheaper prepaid option for this as well. Something that I can pay for up front and just make use of while away and maybe hold onto as an option to top up next time that I travel.

What Else?

Possibly the other big challenge I seem to see is how to pack for climates you are not regularly use to. For example even though you may experience single figure temperatures in a temperate climate in winter. How do these differ to single digit temperatures in a different climate.

Whatever the challenge though they are I believe all things that can easily be overcome without a huge deal, and something that is going to be fun to work through in the respect of a truly mobile office.

To get things started on this change to posting more often here, I will be looking at making some theme changes, for the moment, the default theme for WordPress is going to be showing, as the theme I was using was quite dated, I think. However the the theme will not be the only thing to change here.

One of the first things that I would like to do with the website here is work towards build more of a community here. The first step in this will be looking for input in the form of guest posts from other people who are working with No Fixed Office. Because to be honest my experience in working with No Fixed Office, is a fairly closed and narrow representation of what is really out there. So I really want to get some other people’s experiences to share with everyone out there. If you would like to submit a guest post please visit the Contact Page and get in touch, to discuss your interest.

At some point this will also include adding a forum to the site however the last thing that I want to do is, add this on to quickly. I am also a little unsure at this point of the best way to implement this. So suggestions are always welcome.

I look forward to your suggestions or thoughts on the site here and hope that I can get back to providing you with some great information in the near future.

It is really one of the quite attractive parts of working with no fixed office.  The ability to be able to take your work with you and spend the afternoon working in a coffee shop is something that I am sure many people would prefer then having to sit in a small office, be it at home or as part of your job. Trying not to get distracted by other things that could just as easily take your attention, eg coworkers, meetings, email, and the likes at work, or when in a home office things like TV, kids, games, or anything else around the home.

While taking your work to a coffee shop will not avoid all these distractions all the time, it can be sometimes easier to set the differentiation between what you are doing and what distractions you will encounter. But we will take a look at how some of the distractions can be avoided by going and working on a full time coffee break at a coffee shop.

Co-workers – This will be an easy distraction to avert, as it can come down to most of your co-workers will not be willing or able to step outside like you are. Of course if you are planning to go and work in a cafe for the afternoon, ensure you have it approve by your boss, but this often will not be overly difficult if you can prove increased productivity, and may even lead to you needing to work less hours to get the same amount of work done. As long as you can actually buckle down and get it done.

E-Mail – This distraction can be a tricky one to avoid. Everyone seems to try and work with email, to get in touch with clients, management, and other co-workers. One way to negate this distraction is to not connect to your email when out of the office, leave email to be checked in the office, and make anyone who may really need to contact you aware they will need to contact you by phone.

The distractions that you encounter when working from a home office are going to be a little easier to negate when you are working in a cafe or other remote office location, but lets look at the benefits.

TV – This is a no brainer, while you do find that many cafe’s have a TV in the store somewhere and it may be switched on, it is probably going to be rare the show is one that you are interested and often times the sound is off or turned down low anyway. Working in a cafe really does make it that much more difficult to just get up from your work work and go and sit in front of the TV to watch a football game or other show.

Kids – This is another easy one. By taking yourself out of the home, away from where children might be, it makes that definite cut between being at home, and working. Do ensure that children have proper supervision, of course. But children can be a big distraction as most of the time they do not realize or understand the differentiation between playing and working.

These are really just some of the distractions that you can face there are many different distractions which will be different for everyone, the challenge comes down to identifying these distractions and ensuring that your stepping out of the office or home, and going to get your work done in a cafe is actually going to make a difference to the distraction.