It sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? You’re working, you’re on the road, travelling around, the
best of both worlds. And without an office to pay for or standard overheads, etc., working your own hours with a revolving door of scenery might feel like the way out.
However, despite how it might initially seem, running a business from the road isn’t always an option that comes without costs. In fact, you might find some costs cropping up that you didn’t expect to pay for.
Let’s take a look at what some of those are:
VPN
Free VPNs will throttle your speed, and your connection will be questionable to say the least. When you’re logging in from various parts of the world, and you need to be contactable during your small working windows, this is the last thing you need. Losing connection when you’re running your numbers in a cafe in Lisbon or logging into a client account from a hotel in Bangkok needs to be safe and super reliable because you cannot afford the security nightmares that come from unsecured connections.
Paid VPNs aren’t too expensive. You can expect to be paying around £12 on average for a reliable provider who has the server coverage for wherever you are in the world, has no log policies, and gives you and your clients peace of mind.
A Global Payment Provider
You need to be able to accept payments from your clients regardless of where they or you are operating from. And if you’re limiting yourself to a domestic payment setup, you might find yourself bleeding cash once you start accepting international payments or mobile payments for when you’re attending things like craft fairs, expos, or simply selling your wares from wherever you are in person or online. You need payment processing services that can handle international and multi-currency payments, as well as give you physical payment options too. Look at the actual cost per transaction on the headline rate, as this will help you understand what is going to settle into your account in your operating currency.
BusinessTravel Insurance
No one should be working on the road without appropriate business travel insurance that covers all of your operations and your equipment. A basic backpacker’s cover won’t protect you if your MacBook is stolen and you depend on it to earn a living. You need a cover that includes business equipment, professional liability and trip interruption, which will sit at a noticeably higher standard than your usual travel insurance. Before you take out your insurance, check the coverage cap per item. If you lose that MacBook and your cap is £400 per item, that’s not going to help you if you need to buy a replacement laptop costing you £2,000.
Tax Residency and Accounting Help
When you spend months across the globe, you need to understand how this triggers tax residency rules in the countries you’re working from. Because the last thing you want is to make a mistake with HMRC or other global tax bodies and land yourself with a fine or worse.
To help you out, you need an accountant who works with businesses operating from more than one country, and these don’t run cheaply. However, the outlay is worth it for peace of mind.
