Four years ago, I was a nobody. I was working an office job I generally despised. Then I started toiling away, working at home, trying to earn a living as a freelancer, but mostly going broke in a city with one of the highest costs-of-living in the States and about the least exciting things to do.
When I decided to create my own footprint on the web, though, things started to change. I started sharing my ideas and my experiences with the world, and soon I had friends around the globe, influential colleagues running innovative businesses, and fantastic mentors who were doing the things I dreamed of.
I really leveraged the the power of web 2.0 to brand myself, build an extensive network, design a business that I can essentially run from anywhere in the world, and now I’m able to travel around the globe and live in Thailand where the cost-of-living is very low, and I’m dangerously close to the white sand beaches. I’m still basically a bum, but I’m a vagabonding bum with an international business, a global web presence, good friends around the world, and an awful lot of fun travel and volunteering experiences under my belt!
Plus, thankfully, it’s awful cheap to live in Thailand.
- My office in Railay Beach, Thailand
(on days I’m really really lucky)
So Here’s How I Do It
Recently, I attempted to compile all the useful tools I’ve come across since I started this game four years ago, and separate it from all the crap. You can see my whole resource page for living a kickass life here, but today I’d like to share some of the applications, tools, and resources that I use daily and recommend to all my clients and friends. These are all of my best-kept secrets!
Web Presence
- Find a quality web host – Although I’ve hosted most of my websites with DreamHost for the last 3 years (use promo code THRILLING30 to get 30 bucks off), after surveying my blogger friends and clients, a vast majority of them prefer BlueHost. They offer truly superior 24/7 phone support, have much less down time and technical problems than my DreamHost server, and I love working with them!
- Easily manage your content – WordPress is by far the easiest, most powerful content management system out there. I use it for all of my sites—blogs, business sites, minisites, and it’s even great for photo galleries, portfolios, communities, job listing sites & more.
- Get a great web design – if you don’t have the cash to invest in a proper web designer (a good, original design will often cost $3–$5K) there are TONS of great, inexpensive HTML templates and WordPress themes available from companies like WooThemes and ThemeForest. I have used great designs from both.
Gadgets & Gear
- Pack a tough laptop – If you’re going to be backpacking the world for a few years, getting sand and water in your laptop, you might want to invest in a Toughbook. But I’m an Apple fanboy and all my favorite apps & development tools are on OSX. I’ve found the new 13-inch unibody aluminum Apple MacBook Pro can take a few hard drops and has been great to travel with.
- A global smartphone – Again, I go with my favorite Apple here, and as an online businessman, yes I am an iPhone 3G-carrying member of the tech elite! You’ll need to follow the unlocking instructions here for use on non-AT&T networks, international travel & data access.
- Portable WiFi – The awesome and compact Airport Express will turn almost any ethernet connection around the world into a wifi network.
- Backup your important files – Especially if you carry client work with you as you travel the world, you want to make sure you save secure copies frequently in case your laptop is stolen or damaged. I connect to an external drive and backup my whole system with TimeMachine often, and also use free Mozy online backup to automatically upload copies of my most important files to the cloud (runs in the background so I don’t even have to see it or think about it).
Communications
- Cheap calls around the world – call friends & clients around the globe for as little as 3 cents a minute with Skype, or set up your own virtual SkypeIn number that people can dial from their phone back home to reach you on the web (I even use mine to forward to my Thai mobile number).
- One number to rule them all – previously called GrandCentral, Google Voice will give you one phone number to route and forward to any phone; highly customizable. This is also how I maintain a Bay Area, California international line that I can forward to my Skype or my mobile abroad.
- One chat client to rule them all – Adium or Meebo can connect AIM, gTalk, MSN, Yahoo chat, Facebook chat and more.
- Online group video chat – Tinychat offers free chat rooms & audio video conferences online.
- Free teleconference calls – FreePhoneConference.com gives you a free dial-in teleconference number to hold a workshop for dozens of callers.
Online Collaboration
- Maintain a public or shared group calendar – Google Calendar gives you an easily-shareable calendar and schedule organizer.
- Easy document collaboration – Google Docs gives you collaborative word documents, spreadsheets, and forms that you can share with others and modify the same document remotely.
- Screen sharing – Adobe ConnectNow is a new, free service that lets you meet live over the web and share your screen with anyone.
- Team project management – There are tons of web-based project management apps like Basecamp, or the free alternative Collabtiv.
- File storage & sharing – Store archives of your large files online and easily send & share them with your colleagues with a free Dropbox account.
Web Development
- Access your server – Open-source Cyberduck FTP client for Mac.
- Edit your code – Powerful, user-friendly editor Smultron, also open-source for Mac.
- Build test websites offline – Run your own local Apache server with MAMP for Mac.
- Test and tweak live websites – Firebug is a Firefox plugin that makes testing your code much easier.
- Test cross-browser compatibility – Finally, Adobe BrowserLab offers a way to do this easily and free (keep this one on the down-low).
e-Commerce & Invoicing
- Easily send & receive money online – PayPal
- Simple online invoicing & bookkeeping – FreshBooks
- Deliver digital products – e-Junkie handles payment & fulfillment for your ebook, audio, or other information products.
Marketing & Promotion
- Start your mailing list – AWeber is the leading provider for customer list management, autoresponders & drip campaigns.
- Smart social bookmarking – Install the Su.pr bookmarklet in your browser toolbar, submit your links and they’ll be automatically sent to Twitter, Facebook & StumbleUpon!
- Build your expert credibility – LinkedIn is the best professional online network, and LinkedIn Answers is the best place to brand yourself, share your expertise with others, and even solicit feedback on your own questions from experienced CEOs and other professionals.
- Give a great presentation – Prezi is guaranteed to be a PowerPoint-killer. Forget slideshows, Prezi gives you a canvas without limits to deliver a dynamic presentation.
Personal Finance
- High-yield online savings accounts – get a little better return on your dollar by putting your savings in a Emigrant Direct or ING Direct account. I especially love ING because you can create as many sub-accounts as you want, easily managing different “buckets” for your many savings goals.
- Best multinational bank – HSBC Bank has the most locations around the globe of any bank I’ve seen.
- Avoid hefty fees – Charles Schwab could possibly have the best checking account for travelers. They reimburse all ATM transactions and have no international fees. If you want a referral, let me know.
- Frequent flyer perks card – Are you a frequent flyer? Get 1 mile per dollar spent, plus 12,000 bonus sign-up miles with the Discover Miles card.
- Manage your accounts & budget – Mint.com is powerful, free personal financial management application.
Travel & Mobile Lifestyle
- Find the best travel deals – Kayak.com compares thousands of airfare and hotel aggregator sites like Orbitz and Travelocity to find the lowest fare.
- Get the cheapest local flights – Find the budget air carriers in your region with WhichBudget.
- Get last-minute airfare deals – You can bid low on last-minute flights from Priceline and check out their Pricebreaker deals.
- Meet locals and find free accomodation – Couchsurfing. Almost anywhere in the world. Awesome.
- Low-cost rentals & sublets – AirBnB lists vacation rentals and apartments for rent in 87 countries.
- Backpack around the world on $25 a day – How to See the World, the free Art of Travel guide, is a great resource to learn more.
- Learn how to become a digital nomad – Read Christine Gilbert’s great series 30 Ways in 30 Days to Redesign Your Life and Travel the World.
- Go green and get all your mail virtually – EarthClassMail will send all your snail mail to you via email. Great for business backpackers!
- Affordable world travel insurance – World Nomads insurance recommended by Lonely Planet.
- Master travel hacks – Grab the Frequent Flyer Master guide from Chris Guillebeau, who’s traveled to 119 countries in a few short years, to learn how to get the most out of your miles and get the advantage over the airlines. He even guarantees one free plane ticket!
- Learn to become a permanent traveler and live anywhere – If you want to move abroad permanently, and create income streams that support you as a perpetual traveler, then you absolutely must get Karol Gajda’s stunning ebook How to Live Anywhere. This is the guide I seriously wish I’d written! Check out my interview with Karol here.
- Get your work done wherever you go – Coworking is the hip new way to have an office without a job. If you like being surrounded by other human beings but not distracted from your work, search for coworking spots where your’e traveling.
Lifestyle Design Tools
- Set and budget for your goals – Tim Ferriss’ Ideal Lifestyle Costing method will help you figure out what your ideal lifestyle looks like, set goals for 6 months or a year down the road, and figure out what you have to do and how much it will cost to get there. Use this Dreamlining Worksheet.
- Build a support team – David Walsh is an automation genius who put together SourceControl to show you how to successfully outsource taks and give you a framework for your ambitious projects.
- Automate all your business processes – Take a few tips from Rob Granholm on how to Automate Your Systems. Rob has done a tremendous job breaking down processes, and for extra credit you can even apply this outside of your business.
What are your favorite tools, apps & resources for living a mobile lifestyle and getting work done from anywhere?
Check out my resources page for more useful tools, ebooks & resources for living an incredibly kickass life. BTW the featured photo at the top of the page is me with my buddies Migration Mark, Dwight Turner and Joel Bruner on a vagabonding trip to Laos.
Cody, really psyched to see this post from you. I love hearing about how others found their path and assimilating the goods into my own. I’ll be using this resource going forward for sure, especially in the realm of creating income streams and valuable products for others…I’m loving how you’re amping that up recently.
Interesting to see what’s in your arsenal! Here’s my list (the row of icons running across the top of my desktop)
1. Notepad – Use it daily to edit html/php docs and write content
2. Firefox – Best brwoser with some great add-ons (firebug is a life saver)
3. PhotoShop – The first design tool i used. Not the easiest to learn for a beginner thou.
4. Excel – I spend a lot of times working out my $$ in here (also use google docs if sharing the data)
5. Poker Stars… i need my poker fix on a Sunday evening
6. FileZilla – Open source FTP program (best I’ve used our of 10+ over the years)
7. Skype
8. Easy Thumbnails – This tool is great (and free) to re-size many images at once
9. CamStudio – When I need to record something for a freelancer to work on and is quicker to record than spend an hour writing spec
10. Gmail’s lab feature: Offline Mail – I use this when can’t connect to net to drill through email
I also use WordPress tones and my whole life seems to be stuck in GMail either on chat or responding to emails.
As for host… Media temple is who I advise people to use at the beginning, but if promote adult or have shit loads of traffic/sites, RackSpace are the nuts. I’ve got dedicated servers with both, and both provide great service.
As you can see, I don’t use a lot. Minimalism is the key [for me].
I can tell you from experience (I set up my account a few months before leaving LA) that Charles Schwab has an AMAZING checking account for world travelers. I can use my debit card in any ATM anywhere on the planet and they reimburse me for the charges. It’s radtastic.
The only complaint that I have is that their customer service, though extremely friendly and helpful, is not available all the time. I ran into a problem in Vegas, the first time I was going to use the card, where I couldn’t remember what I had used as a PIN number. I called the help number and was informed that they were closed because it was 10am, try again later or check out the website. Yeesh.
Overall, though, I’ve been VERY satisfied with Charles Schwab.
Great compilation here Cody. Definitely some tools in here I wasn’t familiar with and will be checking out soon!
Great stuff! I am going to have to really examine this list when I get more free time.
Thanks for the great list. I bookmarked it in preparation for my future career as a LIP.
This is a really thorough list. I’m bookmarking this bad boy. Will definitely refer to it again.
Thanks for this Cody,
This post is bookmarked. First thing for me to start using is cloud computing before my big move back to New Zealand from China next year.
Cheers.
This is a great list of resources. I think I may have gone a little overboard bookmarking the links with Read Later. I’ll have a lot of catching up to do. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome list of great tools to use man. Appreciate you writing them down. Now before I come down and ask you a question I can refer to this article first! Thanks!
Nice list Cody. I use several myself but you’ve added some I haven’t heard of before. I try to be minimalist in what I need for work so services that consolidate the need to bounce all over the web, such as Adium and Meebo are especially interesting to me.
Thanks for the list…definitely appreciate the nicely organized list little tricks that I’m sure you have had to find out and learn along your personal experiences.
I’m defintily gonna check out this Charles Schwab account…
Great list, just bookmarked it.
Used tinychat recently and it seemed to suck. Ustream seems better.
- MPM
Great list Cody!
Your new freelancewWP site is also a great idea. I hope it brings in a lot of business.
Great job Cody – I am working on a resource list as well as it seems that many people love to see the tools you use. It’s great to see the open source and Mac stuff really coming into play. For me as an SEO/Internet Marketer – most of the programs are PC only and I am too lazy to dual boot my MacBook.
I am starting to love Adobe Air apps, they are really smooth and versatile.
Good looks on some of the financial stuff, something I am starting to look into as I plan my travel and speaking schedule for next year.
Great article – appreciate the insight
fantastic list…i am taking notes! Stumbled!
You were never a nobody. I refuse to believe it.
Awesome list, Cody! For someone like me just starting out in the blogging world, this is insanely valuable. I’ll probably be spending the rest of the day exploring these resources.
Cheers.
Spent some good time on Railay Beach last year. Excellent spot to setup shop. Thanks for the great list of resources.
Cheers for the dreamhost promo code – used it today!
Even bigger up for the WP theme…..so simple to use out of the box with no real customizations required, you should seriously be charging some coin for it dude!
Love the post! Never knew about AirBnB but I will be using it now!
This is an incredibly helpful resource thanks! – I’m probably going to try some of these myself (I had never heard of coworking!) Also swear by HSBC, as it’s easy to access your information anywhere
I freed myself from the 9-to-5 life a couple of years ago, and now work as a remote web developer. Have lived in four different US states in two years and have no intent on really settling in one place any time soon (have laptop, will travel!) Seems like more and more of us are escaping the “common life” and actually doing something extraordinary and different. I also love to help people get there. Great stuff!
this is EXACTLY what I’d needed!
This is a great list, and I use many of the tools listed. However, you have listed some new ones that I am happy to find.
Great interviews, too! Enjoy you travels. Here is one to add for anonymous email: Bigstring.com.
Michael Beck
This is a full post! Lots of good stuff here.
ONLINE BACKUP:
I highly recommend backblaze. It’s unlimited, cheap ($5/mo), and incredibly simple. They did a great job.
Also, your files are stored online so you can get any file, at any time. It’s no replacement for dropbox, but it still gives you access to any of your files, anywhere (with internet).
I love this. I met up with some people via Couch Surfing when I was in Spain. I didn’t use it for its purpose of staying at people’s places, but I had some great conversations at coffee shops.