Travel Smart
The perks of a role in digital media is that as long as you have Wi-Fi and your laptop you can really work from anywhere! Although this is a definite plus, it does pose a few unique challenges of it’s own. Time zones, activities, jet-lag and frequently relocating are all part of the travel experience, so how do you make sure you don’t miss a deadline when balancing work and play? We’ve got you covered, here are our 5 tips for staying organized when abroad!
1. Lock your computer into your home-base time zone. This is important especially for us social media managers, where scheduling is essential! This small adjustment will ensure all your client’s posts go live at the correct time of day, and won’t automatically sync them to the time zone of your travel destination.
2. Turn on all your push notifications! Make sure that your calendar is synced to your phone with, as well as your emails. On a day-to-day basis you may not need to be notified of all your new emails, but when travelling this will help keep you in the loop and make sure you don’t miss a beat!
3. Plan for the time-frame you’re away. Effective organization pre-take off will lift a world off stress off your shoulders and leave more time for sunshine. Meet with your clients so your agenda is clear for the time you’re away. Plan your content shoots so you have enough assets to sustain you for your travels, and write and schedule all your content in advance. Taking these measures will mean all you have to do while you’re away is your daily tasks, which will free up more time for fun!
4. Have a back-up plan: talk to your most reliable colleague so they are aware of what you have going on with all clients during the time you’re away. CC them on your correspondence and regularly touch-base with them. That way, if you’re asleep or offline, and a work emergency takes place, they will be able to handle immediately! Team work makes the dream work.
5. Set up an out-of-office automated response. There is nothing worse in business than to look like you’ve dropped the ball, so cover all your bases. Who knows, you might be mid vacation in Cambodia and lose signal, which prevents you from accessing your emails for three days! Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Having your email default to an out of office response will give you some leeway in your correspondence. People won’t expect an immediate response, and will be more accepting if you take a few extra days to get back to them!
