It may not sound very nice to you, but when I look for a holiday address, one of the important points of assessment is that I can work from my holiday address. Can't I work on vacation because the WiFi isn't good enough, for example? Then I get nervous about that. And that makes no one in our family happy. Do you recognize that, or do you prefer to opt for a complete detox for a few weeks and not work on holiday?
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Maybe it's because I'm self-employed. Or maybe just because I don't like emails coming in for two weeks that I can't view. That the work piles up. But for me it is clear that I have to be able to work on vacation. Of course, that doesn't mean I do this every day. Or that I'm working all day. But the possibility must be there. Otherwise I get completely stressed. And that can never be the purpose of going on vacation, right?
The WiFi is therefore a must-have. Not just for the kids, but also for me. And secretly also a bit for Frank. And not just to work on vacation, but also a bit for the hobby. For example, I passed my motorbike theory exam last year at our campsite on Lake Maggiore. Not possible without WiFi, because the entire theory course took place online.
But what was extra handy this year is that we can also log in to our own home network in the Netherlands from anywhere. And I have already noticed that is indispensable. From the laptop, but also from the smartphone. Ideal. Perhaps you as an entrepreneur are completely online set up, that is of course possible, that you have everything in the cloud and that you do not have an extensive network of your own at home. However, we do have that home network. For me, that also means that I just work with a PC at home and take my laptop with me on vacation. Super nice because I work at home on the fixed network with a PC that has a lot of capacity and is therefore nice and fast. But many things such as contract agreements with suppliers, but also customer briefings and invoices and the like are all on our home network. Annoying if you suddenly need some data while on holiday that is not on the laptop.
Fortunately, I have a man who is quite handy at this. For example, he has arranged for everything to be mirrored at home. For the laymen among us:if a NAS breaks down, making all data unreachable, we also have everything on another NAS. Every night all data from both disks is synced. So I always have a backup at hand if needed.
Anyway, back to working on vacation and not having all the information with you. Hubby has also ensured that I can still access our home network from outside. He arranged that with a VPN connection. I don't know what's great about it, but I do know that it's super useful. Wherever we are at that moment, whether it's in a cafe around the corner or on the other side of the world, a secure connection allows me to access all my documents. Are you an entrepreneur and does this sound like music to your ears? Then check here for more information about free VPN, who knows, maybe this functionality is just as useful for you as it is for me!
In this way I can ensure that I can provide customers with all the requested information. Even on my vacation. I would find it very annoying if I had to wait two weeks to be able to handle that. I may be on holiday, but as a freelancer you still have to run the business on your own. And total inaccessibility doesn't fit well with that for me. Are you not yet an entrepreneur but are you thinking about becoming a freelancer? Then take mirrored disks and the VPN as a tip in the back of your mind! Are you already an entrepreneur? Then I would like to know from you whether working on holiday is the most normal thing in the world for you. And what have you arranged to make this possible?