Pam (00:00):

You’re listening to the flourish and grow to CEO podcast. This is episode 20.

Pam (00:26):

Are you a lady boss making 50 to a hundred thousand in your business? And you’re ready to break through that six figure barrier. Have you,

Jane (00:34):

You’ve done a great job of creating a nice life as the ultimate gig master, but no, your inner CEO is calling you to greater Heights. You’re in the right place. If you want to create and implement solid fundamentals in your business without sacrificing fun.

Pam (00:48):

I’m Pam Ivey, I’m certified in small business management and I concentrate in the areas of training and certifying real estate assistance, coaching and mentoring entrepreneurs in online business, marketing growth and profit acceleration. And I take men and women business owners aged 40 plus to bucket list destinations around the world for a month at a time to work, explore, and live in community.

Jane (01:14):

And I’m Jane Garee, known as the sales strategist for the non-salesperson. And I work with business owners who want to increase their conversion rate, shorten their sales cycle and have more impact and influence with the work they do all while having more fun.

Pam (01:28):

Hey everyone. And welcome back to the podcast. We’re so excited to have you here today. Today, we’re going to be talking about something that’s so close to our hearts for both of us. Our desired lifestyle includes a great deal of slow travel and you know, one of our top values and it’s really funny, but we have the same top value. Really the tippy tippy top is freedom. And as we’ve mentioned in the previous episode, freedom is what the great majority of us really want. And the reason for us starting our businesses, but the definition of freedom for one person could be completely different for another freedom could be financial freedom, not having to worry about finances. If you want something, you can buy it. In other words, or time, freedom being able to scoot out of the office and meet a friend for a coffee and a chat when she calls or not worrying about stepping away from your computer.

Pam (02:28):

If the school calls to tell you that your granddaughter has thrown up in class and you have to come and get her, or even taking off to enjoy a little me-time on the beach or in a spa for the afternoon, if the whim hits you for me, it was boss freedom. I was tired of the three hour commute each day, the many tears of frustration, plus getting the heck away from a boss. I called Satan’s wife. So what we’re going to focus on today and what it like to build a business around slow travel, because that’s what Jane and I have a great deal of experience in, and you know, how much I truly value this freedom because I even created a business where we introduce business owners to the pleasure of month long trips around the world. So really we’re talking today about location independence and what it takes to really truly be able to have that kind of freedom in order to be able to work and still make money, but also explore where you’re at and really enjoy where you are. So Jane, I want to throw it to you because you had a great kind of list of, of points that we really have to consider in order to be able to make location independence a reality.

Jane (03:48):

Yes, absolutely Pam. I’m so excited that we are really going to get to share with everybody about expectations because when you are truly location independent, you’re going to find that expectations are just going to start popping out of everywhere for you. You’re going to have expectations of yourself. You’re going to have expectations of where you’re temporarily living. You’re going to have expectations of your business, of your family, of your friends, of the work that you’re doing of your clients. So expectations are going to be showing up everywhere, which isn’t a bad thing, but we want to make sure that we’re really giving you some very practical tools on how to master those expectations. Otherwise, you’re going to find that the lifestyle of freedom that you have been creating and are looking to continue to create is going to feel more of a tethering than, than you’re actually anticipating or wanting to experience.

Jane (04:40):

So what are the four expectations we’re going to talk about today through the lens of how do you master them? So, number one, we’re going to talk about how do you master your time. Number two, we’re going to talk about how do you master your budget and your money. Number three, we’re going to talk about how do you master your team. And then number four, we’re going to talk about how do you master your marketing and sales. Now we’re using the word master here because it’d be comes very important for you to be able to truly master those four things. And then again, the overarching theme is the expectations that you’re going to have around mastering each one of those, your time, your budget slash money, your team, and then your marketing and sales. So when you can get expectations around this, that feel good to you and that are achievable for others, that’s when you’re really going to start experiencing mastery. And that’s when you’re going to start experiencing that sense of freedom that you probably really were craving. And that’s why you decided to build your business.

Pam (05:38):

Yeah, I think that’s such an important list. Jane, why don’t we get started with time? I was just thinking, where do we start? Yes. Time.

Jane (05:49):

All of a sudden, I just wanted to sing the sound of music song and let’s start at the very beginning. Let’s start at the beginning is about mastering your time. This is one of my favorite things to actually master because I love a good Google calendar and color coded appointments and making sure that everything runs as it should. And I’m just, I’m a big planner and the planning actually provides freedom because when you are planned, do you actually have more room and freedom to experience spontaneity? So it’s a little counterintuitive. However, that’s, that’s really what happens. The more planned you are, the more you’re going to be able to plan for events or excursions, et cetera, et cetera. And then within that, that’s, you’re going to be able to find your spontaneity. So it’s actually really cool.

Pam (06:37):

Yeah. I think Jane, the very first thing we have to think about is where we are in terms of time zones, right? And if we’re working with clients, what that looks like,

Jane (06:46):

Yes, mastering your time is actually one of my favorite things to talk about because it requires a process and system. And for those of you who are listening to this, you’re going to be hearing us say process and system ad nauseum, but that’s because really everything has to be put into a process and system, or you’re not going to have the freedom that you’re looking for. I love a good plan. I love a color coded appointment book and everything. It’s, it’s very OCD over here on my end when I get into this kind of stuff. But what you’ll find is that having a plan and having a structure really provides you with freedom when you have the plan and when you have the structure, it then allows you to take those excursions or go to dinner with your friends or whatever it is that you’re doing.

Jane (07:30):

And it allows for spontaneity because you’ve got blocks of time. Now that you know, are just for you. So managing your time and mastering your time. If that’s a critical component, if you are independent location independent. So here’s some of the tricks that I use. Number one, really make Google calendar, your friend. I happen to love Google calendar because it gives you the ability to color code everything, which is a big deal for me. So for instance, I know that if it’s my business that I’m working on in regards to flourish and grow with Pam, that’s color coded and say green, I also have writing time where I’m creating content and that’s coded in lavender. Client appointments are a darker green. So something like that color coding is really allows you to time block. And it allows you to see at a glance very quickly, Hey, this is what’s coming up.

Jane (08:19):

So I find that to be important because I like to be in an emotional space that can support whatever the work is that I’m doing. So number one, Google calendar. Second thing about Google calendar. Number two is you can actually create both time zones or set or schedule, I think is a better word. Both times zones in Google calendar. So again, to give you another example, when I’m traveling outside of Eastern standard time, which is my home base location, Eastern time, I set up my Google calendar so that I have Eastern time. And right next to it is a column with whatever time zone I’m in. So, Pam and I were in Australia in 2019 and my Google calendar every day when I pulled it up, it showed exactly what was going on here was Eastern time and who was local Australia time. And that saved my bacon so many times. I can’t tell you because I’d be looking around thinking where who’s what’s, who’s on first, what’s happening. What’s coming up. Who am I supposed to be talking to? Or what am I supposed to be doing? So translating time zones in your head can become very cumbersome and it can become stressful, frankly. So when you get it on your Google calendar, you’ll just always know at a glance, Hey, here’s my home time zone where you work and live normally. And here’s my current time zone.

Pam (09:32):

I love that Jane, cause I didn’t know that the Google calendars did that. I don’t use Google calendars, but it looks like I’m going to be switching. I just use my Apple calendar. So I really like that. But you really have to keep in mind that say you’re in Europe, that’s usually five to six hours ahead of Eastern standard time. If you’re in Asia, it’s about 12 hours ahead and Australia is 18 hours ahead. So they’re often on the next day. So you really have to, you really mentioned something that was so important. Time-blocking I think that’s so critical if you want to be able to actually get out and see what’s around you.

Jane (10:14):

Yeah. Time-blocking is everything. And I want to dive into that, but first I just want to go back to the Google calendar because one other great trick with Google calendar is if you have an iWatch Apple’s iWatch and we’re not, we’re not, we’re not getting paid by Apple to endorse the Verde thing. And I don’t know about Android, but I have Apple products all through. So you can sync up your Google calendar and the time zones to your watch. And you can also put on your watch both times zones. So back old school, back in the day, you’d have a watch that had two different face styles. The new technology, you can have your current time zone where you are locally and then again, your home time zone. So you can sync up all of your technology so that at any given moment, wherever you are, you’re going to be able to say, Oh, it’s 3:00 PM.

Jane (11:00):

And I have that conference call at 3:30 Eastern standard time, which is whatever time of the local time that you’re in. So just find research, some technology, find what it is that you like, the products or the brand that you like. And the best thing you can do is just get everything to kind of sync up so that it’s all together and in one spot. Love it. All right. Time-blocking, let’s talk a little bit about that because you also talked about the importance of making sure that you get really familiar with it, local time zone of where you are and how that compares to where you are at home. So you need to be mindful of that. And this again, I think becomes an exercise. It’s just a lot of fun. So for instance, when we’re in Europe, whether it’s me or, you know, I’ve been with Pam a couple of times when we’re in Europe, Europe, like you said, Pam is five to six hours ahead.

Jane (11:49):

So we’re talking about mastering your time. One of the best things you can do for mastering your time is finding a really good balance between your natural rhythm and how you want to live or how you want to go about your day combined with what you practically actually need to do to run your business. So in, I love the European time zone. It’s a great match for me because I’m not an early morning person. So since they’re five to six hours ahead, my typical schedule when I’m in Europe is I get up. I have a kind of a leisurely coffee at like nine or something. And then I go sightseeing until about two 30 or three o’clock in the afternoon. So three o’clock in the afternoon in my local time zone is either nine or 10:00 AM. So as far as the world is concerned, Eastern time zone.

Jane (12:34):

And certainly if you’re working with Pacific time zone, if you’re a us citizen, they’re just starting their day. So three o’clock in the afternoon, I’ve had some great sights seen. I’ve had my coffee in the morning. I’m had probably lunch at a great cafe and I’ve, I’ve had a fun day. That’s essentially the fun part of the day is, is over. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, but I have done what I’ve wanted to do. I’ve experienced a great day locally. And then I would start work at about three o’clock in the afternoon and work until about 10:00 PM local time. So that’s a full day of work. Now it is late. So if you’re more of an early bird and you can’t stand the thought of having to work until 10:00 PM, you’re going to have to adjust that. But I wanted to use that as an example because it is a really good example of a good combination for me have the whole day up until about three to play.

Jane (13:20):

And then I work from three to 10 and that just, you know, that works for me, but you can certainly customize whatever your day is so that it feels good for you. The important thing in there is number one, do you find your customization. What is going to work best for you and how are you practically still going to be able to handle your business? And then number two, just be really mindful of how you set it up. The, the worst thing you can do when you’re doing a slow travel is kind of leave everything to happenstance because what, what will end up happening. And I’ve done this before is you end up working a lot, but without going out and really seeing what’s happening. So the time-blocking is key. So that Europe example you would have seen on my Google calendar blocked off local time, 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

Jane (14:06):

And then after 3:00 PM, you would have seen in time-blocking increments three to five zooms trainee, you know, five to five 30 client call, whatever, whatever it is it’s going on there. So that’s an example of Europe. I want to give you a quick example of the other way, which is Hawaii. Australia is a whole different animal, but Hawaii. So Hawaii, if you’re a us citizen, it’s six hours behind Eastern time zone. So if you would have looked at my Google calendar when I was in Hawaii, it’s work from 7:00 AM to noon, maybe one, and then walk off to have fun after that. So I had to reverse that because of the time change. Now here’s where the sacrifice starts coming in. When you want to slow travel, all choices and decisions require sacrifice. So do not kid yourself on that. I just told you, I am not a morning person.

Jane (14:53):

So getting up at nine is it’s kinda neat. You know, that’s usually, honestly, when I get up, my feet actually hit the floor. So in Hawaii I was working from 7:00 AM until noon or one. So that means I was up and on the phone or on a zoom call at 7:00 AM. And I did not love that. But what I love was then being able to go do whatever it was that I wanted to do and enjoy beautiful Hawaii from one o’clock in the afternoon, through the end of the day, local time. So those are just two examples that are opposites of a time zone translation, Europe play morning into the afternoon, work afternoon and evening, who I work early morning to afternoon, play afternoon and up into the evening. So find out what works best for you and then determine what kind of sacrifices you are going to need and want to make. So you can enjoy the place where you’re actually living and temporarily dwelling and make sure that you’re staying on top of your business because in case you don’t know, and I’m sure everybody does, but let’s just put this out there. It actually takes money to go travel. So you don’t mean tons and tons and tons of it, but you do need money. So you need to make sure you’re staying on top of your business and you’re continuing to generate income.

Pam (16:07):

Yeah, absolutely. And I know you talked about Australia and Europe or I’m sorry, Hawaii and Europe, if you’re in Asia, it can be a whole other ball of wax. It’s a little bit more challenging cause it’s 12 hours. So that’s where planning really comes into play. But often when I was working with clients and I was in Vietnam, let’s say, or Bali, I was on the phone or on zoom with my clients at midnight. So you have to, as you say, sacrifice in order to be able to do these kinds of things.

Jane (16:43):

Yeah. I will never forget our trip to Australia because I have a standard retainer gig that was at that is every Wednesday and it required me full hair and makeup on camera at three in the morning, local time. So Tuesday evening I basically took a nap from like 10:00 PM until two, and then got up and fluffed, my hair touched up my makeup because I had to be on camera. And I can tell you, I did not love that. But every time I did that, I just kept reminding myself how great is this? I’m living in Australia for six weeks. And then here’s the freedom park when you’re planning. I took every Thursday off. So Wednesday I would work from 3:00 AM until about one in the afternoon, local time. I was pretty shot for the rest of the day on Wednesday. I couldn’t do too much. I usually just kind of read or watch Netflix or slept, which is a little embarrassing. I think you don’t know what you’re in to Australia, but I just was toast, but Thursday I took off. And so the Thursday was my day to go play.

Pam (17:40):

Okay, cool. Jane. So we talked about scheduling. Now let’s talk about tech because this is really important to make sure that everything’s running smoothly, you wherever you are in the world. So one of our recommendations is to have our phone and laptop synced. So why would we do that, Jane?

Jane (18:00):

Well, you just want to make sure that you utilize and leverage the wonderful technology and the technology age that we’re living in. So again, anywhere that you are, you’re going to have full access to your calendar. You’re in the cafe and Rome then open up your laptop. It’s going to match what your phone says. It’s going to match what your watch says. So you’ll always know what’s going on regardless of where you are.

Pam (18:22):

Exactly. So you’re not tethered to your computer. So, you know, your phone is, is getting your email and any kind of messages that you need to have your sync with your calendar, as you say. So there’s no worries when you’re out and about another piece of technology is a SIM card. So when we go away in order to avoid those astronomical cell phone fees, we get a local SIM card and that scares some people. And I know it scared me the first time that I had to think about, Oh my God, what do I do with this little tiny chip looking thing? It’s really quite simple. But one thing that I can highly recommend from experience working with a whole bunch of people coming with us, you know, around the world, don’t get a no name, brand phone. You’ll have a lot of problems with SIM cards.

Pam (19:17):

So you really want one of those more common phones, sorry, like Apple or the Google phone or the galaxy phone, that kind of thing, because they’ll take the SIM cards. It is so easy to open up your there’s usually a little drawer, like thing on your phone, you open it up, pop the new SIM card in and voila, you have data and a local phone number. So your phone number does change, but that allows you to roam and have your maps available to you, have your email available to you and get on your way on the road.

Jane (19:57):

Yeah, those SIM cards can be a real lifesaver. Some of the other things that we use to when we’re traveling is WhatsApp. You can make phone calls through that. You can text people through that. It’s free internationally. If you have a lot of phone calls back to your home base, now I’m going to say the U.S. or Canada kind of North America, because that’s our home base is the U.S. and Canada. So, I’m not sure about if your home base is another country, but in the U.S. you can call up your phone service provider and find out what their travel packages are. So I have a SIM card when I travel. I also use WhatsApp, but I need to make sure because I am constantly on the phone that I don’t have any issues with my phone service. And I also need to call from my number so people can see my number.

Jane (20:47):

And so there’s a lot of little particulars in there when it comes to my personal business and getting on the phone. So I called my service phone provider and they had a travel package and it was 10 bucks a day unlimited. So that actually allows me to run my business from my phone, as if I’m in my home state, in the U S everybody knows it’s me coming through. It’s my number, it’s my name. It’s seamless. And I never have a problem with the technology. So that’s a little, I mean, obviously that’s more than free, you know, so $10 a day, I can start adding up, but I just always look at it as an investment in my business. And then of course, that’s, it’s a tax write off too. So it’s a legitimate business expense that’s going on. And I just like the comfort and the confidence that I have to make sure nothing will happen.

Pam (21:30):

Absolutely. And you can check. I mean, we’re not accountants or anything like that, but for the most part, most of your slow travel when you’re working can be written off kind of a beautiful thing. Hey, lady, boss, would you like to learn how to quickly create information products that you can sell to add additional streams of income to your business? Check out our fast and profitable info products course@flourish.biz forward slash F I P what’s great is you’ll learn how to make information products quickly using content that you already have. This video course is available for only 49 bucks, less than a couple of Starbucks coffees I kid, but not by much. So head over to www.flourish.biz/fip. That’s F L O U R I S H dot BIZ backslash F I P as in fast info products. All right, let’s get back to the show.

Pam (22:38):

Okay. So, the next thing you need to think about is team. There’s a quote from Michael Gerber, the E-Myth author, it’s one of my favorite quotes. And it’s, “If your business depends on you, you don’t have a business, you have a job, and it’s the worst job in the world because you’re working for a lunatic.” So ensure that your team can run smoothly without you, and guess how that happens, processes and systems. So getting into processes and systems a little bit. I think what we’ve talked about is a process. When you’re planning to travel, you need to ensure that your schedule is laid out and set up. You need to ensure that your tech is proper. So even a checklist process will, will help you with that.

Jane (23:29):

Absolutely. And the thing with team is your team should be prepped up and already up and running before you tackle any kind of slow travel. So you want to make sure and a team could be a one-person by the way. So you just want to make that is your team clear on the expectations? Do they have a clear understanding of what their job description is, what they’re going to be required to do? And then you also want to make sure they’ve got a reliable way that stress free for them to be able to contact and engage with you so that your team should be prepped up on the time zone translation. You don’t want them panicking at 4:00 PM their time when it’s 3:00 AM your time locally. And they’re wondering why they can’t get ahold of you. So any documentation you can provide to them that he is at a glance time translations, and they understand the time zones, let them know what your schedule is.

Jane (24:22):

So again, if we go back to looking at the European example, let them know that really, for the most part, for the next several weeks, you’re going to be reachable between their hours of whatever, you know, nine to six kinds of things. So the team should be very well aware of your schedule as much as you could provide to them without getting to plans. So you feel like you can’t be spontaneous and, you know, nobody needs to know your personal business, but just like if you had a job that you went into at the office, let your team know this is the schedule. This is the time zone that I’m working in. Here’s what I’m anticipating. So they should be very clear on all of that. They also should be very clear on what their job duties are and the requirements that you are expecting them to fulfill.

Jane (25:02):

And you also want to make sure that you empower them to make good decisions when they cannot get a hold of you. So that’s a whole separate topic that we’ll talk about in the future, where we’re talking about managing your teams so that they’re successful and effective, but you want to make sure that you keep an eye out for that. You really don’t want to be traveling around having a, having a coffee, somewhere, talking to interesting people and having somebody on your team, having a meltdown, because they need to make a very simple decision. And they feel like they can’t without your express approval and permission. So you want to start practicing on where am I giving the freedom and the flexibility and the power to my team so that they don’t have to check in with me. I’m making a lot of these decisions because they really don’t.

Pam (25:43):

Yeah. And I think the last thing we should talk about Jane is internet connectivity and stability. It’s something that’s vital. And you might’ve noticed that Jane’s cutting in and out a little bit, but I’m just letting her go because we can still understand what she’s saying, Jane, by the way, right now is I’m spending time in Southern Florida, right?

Jane (26:04):

I am, uh, yeah, I just got back from the Turks & Caicos last week. And now I am in Florida for a few weeks.

Pam (26:11):

Americans can travel. I can’t travel anywhere. You know, they’ve actually grounded any flights to the Caribbean until June, so I can’t get anywhere. Darn it. But, but I just wanted to mention about internet stability and connectivity is if you’re having problems wherever you’re staying, whether it’s an Airbnb, a hotel, an apartment that you rent, there are things called coworking spaces. And that’s what we use when we go away to ensure that we have continuous connectivity, that’s nice and strong. And they usually have things that they usually call Skype booths, which are private little rooms, usually really tiny little rooms that you can go in and have your client meetings and that kind of thing. So just another thing, a tool that’s available to you. They’re usually quite inexpensive. And it also gives you that feeling of community because they have what are called hot desks and you can just purchase a hot desk for a day. And wherever you find a spot, you can pull up a chair and work away. And it’s just nice to be around a whole bunch of other business people sometimes too, just kind of gets you in the mood and productive.

Jane (27:31):

Yeah. That interaction is great. And then there’s also really good networking opportunity. So one of the best things about travel, I think Pam. I know you would agree with me is the, the opportunity that you have to just meet amazing people from all over the world, doing all these interesting things. And it, it, it truly creates a global community for you. So I was posting something on Facebook the other day, which we’ll talk about that in a few minutes here with managing or mastering your marketing and sales. I was posting on Facebook and it was a couple of weeks ago actually, when I was in the church in Caicos and one of my friends posted back and said, I wish I had your unlimited travel budget. And I posted that because I wanted everybody to see it. I don’t have an unlimited travel budget.

Jane (28:13):

I mean, it’s like I work because I have to, not because it’s a hobby and I’m independently wealthy, you know, kind of thing. So yeah, I have bills to pay. I need to generate income. So I don’t have an unlimited travel budget. What I have is an unlimited ability to be resourceful and an unlimited capacity to meet and love other people wherever I happen to meet them. And so what I said to her was I don’t have an unlimited travel budget. One of the key things in traveling a lot is you meet really cool people and there’ll be your research team. They’ll be your hosts. Sometimes they’ll find you great deals that only the locals know. So there’s a whole kind of movement that you’ll really a network, rather. There’s a whole kind of network that you’ll be able to tap into when you’re out and about traveling that will offset this mindset that you have to have bajillions of dollars to be able to travel, whether it’s two months of the year or 10 months of the year,

Pam (29:10):

That is so true. And that’s why we continue to work so that we’re funding our travel as we are out and about. Yeah.

Jane (29:19):

Right. That was really the thing that we started with on this podcast is creating the life of your dreams. I don’t know about you Pam or anyone listening, but the life of my dreams actually would not be being on permanent vacation. It sounds great. In theory, I’m sure I could go for a few months, really not doing anything other than kind of contemplating life and, you know, pina coladas and having my toes in the sand or strolling through the European markets or whatever. Yeah. That’d be great for, for, you know, probably two, three months max. And then after that, I’m a human being just like everybody else, which means we’re constantly seeking contribution and purpose. So the lifestyle that you’re wanting to create, that I think that’s actually important to address right now, because if you’ve got in your head that I want to be able to travel more so I can escape my job, or I want to be able to travel more. So I don’t have to work. That’s not what we’re talking about. And if that’s what you want to do, that’s fine. But that’s actually not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about being able to pack a suitcase or a couple pickup and go live someplace for several weeks to several months, maintaining your work life pretty much as you would at home. And then just the differences you’re doing all this cool stuff and meeting all these interesting people exactly where

Pam (30:34):

We’re actually designing our business in order to support the lifestyle that we desire, which includes a lot of travel.

Jane (30:41):

Um, what are the on the tech Pam is VPN’s, let’s talk about that.

Pam (30:46):

Good one. Yes. Virtual private networks. So, so important, especially if you’re going to go into your bank account while you’re away online and that type of thing, anything that you want to keep private it’s, um, relatively inexpensive and I really inexpensive. You can get VPN services.

Jane (31:05):

I paid, yeah. I paid $30.

Pam (31:08):

Oh my goodness. Even better. Yeah. So what it actually does for you is it blocks your computer. It’s an extra level of security so that people can’t get in hack into your computer, in any, in any way, it masks your IP address. You can dial in from any location. So you can select, if I’m in India, let’s say I can select where I’m connected from. So I want to be connected from Canada so that I can continue to use my Netflix account, which I’ve done for sure. What else can you tell us about VPMs

Jane (31:49):

Again, if we’re talking about comfort and confidence, this has been a game changer for me. I have friends in our travel network who will just purchase a VPN because you could, you do a month a month. So you can do it all a card for again, about 13 bucks a month. That’s the company that I use. So it’s 1295 a month. You can do it once a month and then just cancel. But what I found is that I kind of got, I kind of got addicted to the freedom of movement. So even when I’m at home in my home town, if I want to go to Starbucks or if I want to go to some random restaurant or I want to go to wherever it is that I want to go, I can just crack open my laptop. And the VPN starts working and it shields me from discovery. And now I’m on privately on my network. Like I would be if I were at home in my office on my own private network requiring passwords.

Pam (32:37):

Much better said than I said it, Jane, but that’s so true anywhere you’re using a public internet service, you should be using a virtual private network. I just think that’s good security practice.

Jane (32:50):

Yeah. For 13 bucks a month or whatever it is. I really can’t recommend it enough for anybody. Even if you’re not doing bigger, travel again, one town over at the coffee shop, they’re great.

Pam (33:01):

Super. All right, guys, let’s move on to mastering your budget because we just talked about it. We’re not unfortunately, independently wealthy. So we have to continue to keep visible and create new clients and new opportunities when we’re slow traveling.

Jane (33:20):

Yeah. So mastering your budget and your money. So what we can tell you about that is probably the first piece is get a strategy. You really want to be strategic about what your income revenue streams are. And if you don’t already, you want to make sure that you’ve got multiple streams of income. They could all be from your primary business or your only business. That’s fine. And it could be from additional businesses that you have, but you want to make sure that you’ve got multiple streams of income. So what do some of those look like? Number one, any kind of clients that you have on retainer. Those are great clients because you’ve got a steady stream of income that’s coming in and it’s going to come in no matter where you are and what you’re doing provided. Of course, you’re serving them at the highest level, which we’re going to assume everybody is because that’s who you are.

Jane (34:11):

So any clients that are on retainer, you’re going to get that set amount of months per month. And it is great. So again, I have clients on retainer. They pay on the first and the 15th of every month. And I love it because I can be on the plane. I can be at the beach. It doesn’t really matter. I can be working. It doesn’t matter what I’m doing, but I know that when I check my bank account, those deposits have been made. So retainer clients, great way to keep your income steady and consistent. And with those retainer clients, remember for the most part, you’re going to have the control over your schedule. So my retainer clients, I have to get, I get to, I should say, I have to. I love them. I love my retainer clients. And I have the privilege of working with them every week at the same time.

Jane (34:53):

So now we’re going back to look at mastering your schedules because this stuff all interconnects, right? So that’s the deal. So I have clients that are on retainer. I know I’m getting money the first and the 15th of every month or automatic deposits. And I set it up so that yes, I meet with them once a week at the same time every week. And I also know that I can work around that schedule. So that goes back to the Wednesday example and Australia, I just do Wednesdays for the duration of the time that I was in Australia. I really wasn’t going to do anything but work. And that was it. You know? So same thing, regardless of where else I am. If I have a four o’clock call every Thursday, then I have a four o’clock Eastern standard time call every Thursday. And I know that I need to work my playtime and my sightseeing around that. So number one, stream revenue is an option clients that are on retainer. Pam, do you want to give him one?

Pam (35:41):

Absolutely. Another one, one of my favorites is online courses and I have several online courses and that’s what provides me with my primary income actually. And most of them are semi-passive semi because with one of my courses, I actually manually review and Mark exams and assignments, but I’ve already got the course made. So it allows me an awful lot of time to continue to earn money, but also to explore what’s around me. So online courses or trainings are another great,

Jane (36:22):

Yeah, memberships, something else. Again, memberships are automated revenue that’s coming in every month because people are just paying their membership dues, not creating a membership site. That’s really more for an advanced business. So if you just heard that don’t get too excited and don’t panic. If you don’t have one. So you want some other things in your business to be up and running and functioning and financially sustainable. Before you look at memberships, however, you can put that on your radar because memberships are a great way to create income. That’s again, consistent

Pam (36:49):

Affiliate marketing is another one. That’s something that’s very popular, recommending, trusted resources to your following and earning a percentage on any sales that come from your introduction to that product or service. There are a ton of ways, honestly, for different streams of income. But you know, you talked about clients on retainer. You could have group coaching because Jane and I both love leveraged income. So instead of just one-on-one coaching, you’ll have a group coaching program. So it’s one to many, and it’s very time-saving as well, right? Because you’re just meeting with this group of people instead of individually. So that’s another option for additional stream of income.

Jane (37:37):

Yeah. So just take a look and brainstorm. How can you generate income? What are your multiple streams of revenue and how do you want to live? So get a handle on how much money do you need, how much money would you like, how much money needs to be in the bank so that you feel good about what you’re doing? How much money are you projecting coming in at, at any given moment? So that again, when you’re overseas or you’re out of town, it’s not this scramble to make money because you know that you know that the money’s coming in. So you need to just plot and plan everything.

Pam (38:11):

Absolutely. And that’s something you really have to think about is your destination. Because when I go to Asia, for instance, say Bali or Vietnam, it is really, really inexpensive to live and to eat. So I don’t need to be making a whole bunch of money, but I’ve go to someplace, like, let’s say Copenhagen, you need a ton of money to live, to eat to. I mean, it’s a really expensive city. So

Jane (38:39):

[inaudible] was a shock for me. It was $9 American for court of strawberries. Grapes were $16. It was like bottled water was nine bucks. I mean, it was, I figured it would be expensive because it’s a Caribbean Island, but it’s, it’s probably the most expensive Caribbean Island I personally have been to.

Pam (39:00):

Oh my goodness. That is really expensive. So you really have to do a little bit of research before you go. And that’s, you know, always advisable. So, you know, culture and that kind of thing as well ahead of time, but you really have to research. What does it cost the cost of living wherever you’re going. So that’s, I think in your planning and budgeting,

Jane (39:21):

All right. So moving into the last one, which is expectations of your marketing and sales and then mastering your marketing and sales, the best news I think we can deliver for this topic is that we are so fortunate where you can truly run your business off of your cell phone because the technology is so incredibly advanced and we just, we know what it does. So for marketing, you can set everything up so that you’re not scrambling around trying to proactively market on the fly. You can do that. And it works great for social media marketing because it’s, you know, here I am doing this post, that kind of thing. So social media on the fly in the moment, that’s actually very powerful, but the rest of it, any content that you create, your emails, email campaigns, if you are doing affiliate marketing, you can set all of that up.

Jane (40:14):

Now here’s the interconnectedness, your team should have all of that taken care of. So again, it’s less about you implementing and doing the marketing. Your team will be able to do that for you. And again, team, it can just be one person and you are doing more of the strategy and the plotting of what’s going to happen. And then they are implementing. Now, if you don’t have a team or you don’t even have one person, just be a little bit more mindful because you are going to be the one that is implementing, sending out the emails, pushing, you know, whatever collector send on. I’m not, I’m not. Can you tell, I’m not really into the technology. I have someone pushing the buttons

Pam (40:57):

With automation today is just so simple. You know, you can set up a whole group of emails to go out and just set it up and let it happen. So you can drip out your campaign, one of those technical terms, but you can set up your emails to go out a couple of days apart or a week apart, whatever, kind of set it and forget it kind of thing. So again, it’s planning, what do you want to be marketing while you’re away? And how can you set things up so that they’re automated when you are away, you mentioned social media and it’s such a beautiful thing. You’re traveling. You have so much access to really cool content that people want to hear about and engage with when you’re traveling. And if you can find a lesson in something that you learned, something that you saw at the market, perhaps, or a conversation that you had with a stranger on a train or a bus even better, if it can really integrate into your brand and your messaging out to the world, the more, the better. And I know Jane that you do a lot of that. So follow Jane on Facebook, because she has some really great content around where she is, who she’s meeting. She’s just a really good writer. So I would recommend following Jane on face,

Jane (42:24):

All my vulnerabilities and foibles end up coming out on Facebook. So,

Pam (42:29):

But you get great engagement. You’re building a community around that type of thing. People really relate when it’s, I don’t know. It’s just great. It gives you such great fodder when you’re traveling for marketing and content.

Jane (42:44):

Yeah. Yeah. You can create some spectacular content when you are traveling. If you just, if you keep your eyes open and you let your mind kind of expand and start thinking out of the box, I have a friend who always jokes that I could find the meaning of life in a tortilla chip. And then like, so it was kind of funny cause we were in a Mexican restaurant when she said that I grabbed the tortilla chip out of the basket. And I said, I think I’ll do that. Here are my three points on why life is like a 40th. That kinda is my jam. But it’s, you know, we live in a fascinating world with fascinating people and there are so many things to see and so many things to do and so many relationships to build and it creates a very rich, interesting, diverse life.

Jane (43:31):

If you let it now, it can be challenging, which was one of my last post on Facebook because I talked about the grit and the gloss in it. It’s in everybody’s life, but it can really show up in kind of the life of a traveler. So I think that’s an important point to make here. So just, we started the podcast talking about managing expectations and that I think, you know, we can leave you with that as one final expectation as manage your expectation on what this all actually looks like. Because some of the things that can crop up are loneliness and insecurities and uncertainty, and just kind of generalized stress. You know, when you’re in a, when you’re in a country where they’re not speaking your native language and everything’s kind of topsy turvy, the only thing you want to do is latch onto somebody who understands and gets it.

Jane (44:16):

And sometimes that person is you and there are no other options. So it’s very glossy and it’s very wonderful and I wouldn’t do life any other way. And I know Pam, you feel the same way. There are so many, so many great things about it. And I feel we would be remiss in doing duty to you and lack authenticity. If we made it sound like it was just pie in the sky. And every day was a beautiful day with lollipops and unicorns and roses because that’s definitely not the case, but it’s, it’s a good life. And here’s the best news you get to create the life. That actually feels good to you.

Pam (44:46):

Absolutely. And that’s the way I’d love to wrap this up is that we’re going to challenge you to do some thinking about what you want your lifestyle to look like, and then put the pieces in place to move forward toward that goal. It’s time for us to stop letting life happen to us and start designing the life that we want. It may not be slow travel for you. It’s it may be something entirely different, but really think about what are the steps I need to take in order to design my business around that lifestyle so I can make it happen. Stop letting it happen to you.

Jane (45:26):

I think that’s great wisdom there. Sweet.

Pam (45:28):

All right. Well, we want to thank you once again for joining us for this episode, episode 20 of the flourish and grow to CEO podcast, wishing you a great week and we’ll talk soon!

Jane (45:42):

Bye everybody.

Pam (45:44):

Well, that’s a wrap everyone. Thanks for joining us this week on the flourish and grow to CEO podcast. Be sure to visit our website at www.flourish.biz. That’s F L O U R I S h.biz, where you can subscribe to the shows in iTunes, Stitcher, or via RSS so you’ll never miss an episode. You can also find our show notes and resources there too. And while you’re at it, if you found value in this show, we’d love for you to leave a rating on iTunes. Or if you’d simply tell a friend about the show that would sure help us out to now get out there and flourish.