9 Tips to Work Remotely With Your Family

I recently returned from a family adventure. We flew to Denver, rented a car, and embarked on our first DelaneysGo.com road trip. We had a wonderful time exploring the great states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. There was just one small catch, I still had to get work done along our journey.

When you run a small business, you can't simply unplug and stop working altogether. Yes, a family vacation should be all about spending time with your family, but you should never neglect your clients.

If you are like me, you have probably found yourself in the same boat (maybe even on a boat). The following are some tips to help you run your business while on your family vacation.

9 Tips to Work Remotely With Your Family

1. Let your clients know that you will be on the road for a couple of weeks before departing, so they know to expect a delay hearing back from you.
2. Set up your trusty, Out of Office email auto-reply with the details.
3. Split the driving time with your spouse, so you can tend to your email and catch up on industry news and social media.
4. If you need to get writing done, complete invoices and proposals, you can tether your laptop to your phone. Avoid videos, so your telecom doesn't penalize you with bandwidth overage fees.
5. Since you will be sharing a hotel room with your children (like us), you will probably get to bed at a relatively early time each night. Be sure to wake up before the rest of your family and head to the lobby to work. Bonus points if you can walk to a local café with Wi-Fi. This gives you a little local flavor, plus you support a fellow small business.
6. If you can't sleep because of the looming work you know you need to get to, sneak into the bathroom and set up your temporary office. Type quietly as you perch over the toilet (not so ergonomically designed). Stand-up comedian and Conan O'Brien staff writer, Brian Kiley, is known for writing material this way.
7. If you are RVing or camping (we camped), check to see if the park has Wi-Fi. You will be surprised to learn that many do.
8. Always be brainstorming ideas for new content along your travels. Use a notepad and sketch out your thoughts for blog posts, newsletters, and any other content you plan to produce.
9. If your family is quietly reading, sleeping, or staring deeply into their devices as you travel, listen to an audiobook or podcast on your headphones. I usually choose non-fiction, business-related content, so I can discover new techniques to market my business and help my clients with theirs.

Be clear with your family that you still need to get some work done during your family vacation. Remind them that your business helps to pay for their trip. Without my amazing clients, we wouldn't have been able to go on our adventure.

I asked the DelaneysGo newsletter subscribers for their own remote working tips. Matthew Rogers suggested that we should be prepared with all fully charged devices to get work done. He uses his iPhone's personal hotspot to download client files. He also suggested using text edit to draft blog posts, since other software that depends on an internet connection can be spotty. Marc Apple recommended setting a certain time of day to check emails and to make phone calls. He urged readers to stick to that schedule to make the most of your time away.

Most importantly, understand that a family vacation should primarily be about your family. I am not suggesting you bury your head into your laptop or behind your mobile device during your whole holiday. Be open with your family, so they understand why you need to get work done.  Don't forget why you are on a family vacation in the first place. 

Have you traveled with your family and still got your work done? I'd love to hear how you did it. 

This article originally appeared in The Tennessean Newspaper.

A Christmas Story

I’m not sure what year it was, but we were north of Toronto near my cottage. We were deep in a forest, surrounded by fluffy white snow everywhere. I was a young kid, wrapped up to my head in winter wear. I looked like a Canadian ninja, dressed in a blue, snowflake patterned toque, positioned just above my eyes. My Toronto Maple Leafs scarf was over my mouth and nose to the bottom of my eyes. Hundreds of fraser, balsam fir, scotch pine, and spruce trees surrounded us. The dusk sun was on the cusp of setting, and the snow reflected the dark blue from the sky above. Santa was up there somewhere, getting ready to visit us soon.

On the hunt for the perfect Christmas tree

My step-brother, Andy, was there, along with my brother, Mike, and my Dad. We were hunting for the perfect Christmas tree to return to the cottage and decorate for St. Nick himself. As we wandered through the snow-covered tree farm, we reached a crossroads. A large path split the forest in half. We stood there together, frozen for a moment, anticipating something.

Suddenly, a pack of barking, snorting dogs appeared out of the darkness. They sprinted toward us along the path, huffing and puffing. One large cloud of carbon dioxide floated above the dogs as they exhaled quick breaths. Behind the dogs stood a large man with a guttural voice who commanded the dogs to halt. The sleigh came to a complete stop right in front of us. We were all dumbfounded.

Two beautiful brown gems happily glared back to us.

The man behind the sled smiled. His eight huskies stood anxiously awaiting further instruction. The musher looked at us and asked if we liked his dogs. He assured us that it was OK to go over to pet them. One particular dog instantly drew us in like a magical magnet. He had the thick white, and gray fur one would expect from a Siberian Husky. However, his eyes were both hazel brown. The breed is best known for its piercing blue eyes. Some huskies have one blue and one brown eye, but not this one. Two beautiful brown gems happily glared back at us.

His eyes seemed to smile as we all gathered around to pet him while the dog runner glanced down and noted our fondness for the individual dog. “It sure looks like they like that one, eh?” he said to our father. My dad replied in agreement, “They sure do. He’s one hell of a good-looking dog.”

“You guys want him?” The musher asked. The freezing wind abruptly stopped. The forest became silent. My siblings and I stared from the dog up to my dad. We had never owned a dog before. The man unzipped his parka and reached into his pocket for a business card. “If you want him, give me a call. That one is for sale.”

Before my dad could answer him, he yelled, “Mush! Hike! All right! Let’s go!” The dogs jumped up and were off like lightning. They left the scene so quickly that it felt like the whole thing had been a winter dream. We stood there staring into the distance as the dog sled disappeared. The snow fell faster from the heavens.

Photo from Flickr by Peggy2012CREATIVELENZ

I have no recollection of selecting a tree, cutting it down, strapping it to the roof, or any monetary exchange for the tree. No, all I remember is what happened next. The snow fell silently into the windshield as we drove through the night. The ride was quiet as millions of flakes endlessly flew toward us. It was as if the snow had hypnotized my dad. He turned from glaring at his headlights on the dark road and asked, “Do you guys want a dog?” 

"I was going to kill him next week."

A few days later, we drove up the long driveway of the musher’s home. We were shocked to see so many dog houses surrounded by fencing. The volume of the barking dogs was ear-piercing as we trudged through the slush and brown, muddy snow to the front door. The man greeted us, and we entered his rustic home. My dad and the man sat at his kitchen table. We looked around at the dogs, searching for the one we had found that night at the tree farm.

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My dad made the check out for $500 as the man left to retrieve our first dog. The musher smiled as we departed and put his hand on my dad’s shoulder. “You know, I’m glad you bought that one… I was going to kill him next week.”

As it turns out, Teddy wasn’t the best sled dog, which would be his fate. Luckily (for him and us), he was the best first dog a family could own. I have no recollection of what Christmas gifts I received that year. I don’t even remember what the tree looked like. All I remember is that was the year Teddy joined our family. We had many great years with him. Now he’s up there somewhere, beyond the North Pole, above the snow and the clouds, in the sky, far over that tree farm.

Thanks for being here. Merry Christmas, Teddy. Happy Holidays to you too.