050 - Fun in Your Mobile Business!

Hey Guys Nicole Gabriel here!

Today is a super exciting day for us here at Let’s Get Your Book Published! My pups and I will be making a giant road trip from Utah over to Florida to pick up our new mobile office! We are welcoming a 36’ long RV into our family. What an adventure we are gonna to have! 

I don’t have much to teach you here today, as I simply wanted to chat and share with you our little celebration and what’s going on in my life behind the scenes.

If you’ve ever wanted to take your home office with you on the road then you know what an exciting journey this is going to be for us! Maybe you’ve thought of doing the same? 

Over the years I’ve had to learn how to get my business more mobile. I have a regular list of incoming clients but I’ve had a constant state of change while trying to keep up.  

I started my book publishing business over on the island of Maui almost a decade ago now and I needed to leave Hawaii and make my way to my family in Michigan for about a year and then to Utah on and off for the last two years. 

I’ve always struggled with how to remain functionally uninterrupted in my business amongst all the change in my life. I dreaded having to pick up my office and setup again in a new location in effort not to miss a beat and get up and going as quick as possible. 

Can you relate to any of this? Have you ever tried to go mobile or are you relocating often? I think we are going to see a few changes in how we are all working in the future.

I have many entrepreneur friends that have decided to take up the Airbnb lifestyle over the years…finding it hard to get locked into one place and wanting to travel, visit clients, and see the world more broadly. But, with my dogs I could never really get too comfortable in that lifestyle and I just had far too much equipment and other personal stuff in tow with me.

As a self-employed entrepreneur we sometimes find that our vacations are commingled with our work and sometimes we have to balance pets, tech, supplies, etc. In my case, I have to work from a desktop computer for all the book layouts I do. It’s incredibly cumbersome to try to see all the detail over a laptop screen. And, I’ve also got my podcasting mic and editing software and find that to be a bit challenging when also not done on the larger screen. 

Over the years I’ve had to pack incredible luggage to get all my podcast, desktop publishing, and video equipment into any trip. Relocation on multiple occasions has sometimes taken weeks to get functional again. And just a trip to visit mom and dad can mean not just packing up everything but also finding good internet and a quiet place to work. 

I often dreamed of having the ability to just get into my mobile office that’s all ready to go and just pack a few clothes, dog supplies, and food and hit the road. I finally can not just travel seamlessly for pleasure, but I will be able to easily maneuver around North America to teach, coach, and train my clients in person. Of course, the timing for this is currently a bit off, given the Covid shutdowns, but it will come around in time. 

I’m talking about all of this because how often do we ever talk about the day-to-day operations of how we conduct our businesses as a self-employed person? We are so busy putting effort into the seamless appearance that we have it all together. No, of course none of us have a life outside the facade of a perfect business or thought leader, right! Ha! Well…I want to give you permission to share authentically and in your truth. Because, if there is one thing we’ve all learned in these times—we are far from perfect and none of us have it all figured out! If you’ve taken on the lifestyle of an entrepreneur you know that there is some juggling that needs to occur behind the scenes. You know that most things are a risk but you know what you’re doing and you’re willing to take that risk in many ways.

For me, the greatest thing I can do for myself and my business is to not get locked in behind my computer screen! I think as authors some of us can tend to do that. We forget that our book is a movement, a lifestyle, or a method and not just bound paper with a few words on it for sale.

When you get out from behind your screen you can begin to find unique ways to sell yourself. People want to see your grand life adventure and get to know you. I know, for me and my pups, we are going to be doing a bit more sharing of how we juggle it all as a family…and when we get mobile in our new super bus I’ll be sharing a bit more about how to set up a functional space, how to work on the road, how to manage a podcast with life interruptions, and how to best set up a video system that goes beyond the iPhone or laptop. 

I’ve been working really hard on getting my new video equipment set up so that we can meet each other a bit more personally. I love doing podcasting because I can still give you a great message in my bathrobe and slippers with a pile of laundry in the background or fresh out of the shower with no makeup on, but I also want to begin dialoging in more real time and upgrade my videos over on YouTube.

So, I know many of you are enjoying working from home and some of you are now getting back to work, but if your like me and you want to broaden your horizons and get a bit more mobile I think you’ll like my podcasting going forward. Who knows where we will be working next! 

And you know what’s funny? I got chatting with my new friend over at the RV center…my sales guy - Joe. He tells me that he’s meeting more and more entrepreneurs that are taking up the RV lifestyle. He was telling me a few of Tony Robbins former staffers bought RV’s from him. When you’re traveling with books (as an author) or other video equipment (as a podcaster or YouTuber) it can be hard to get everything to your events so this makes sense! 

I just wanted to give you a quick share about what we are up to over here and I’ll let you know once everything is settled in the new RV. We are off the end of the month for a giant road trip to Florida via Utah and back. I might even do a podcast from the road just to say hi and let you know how our grand adventure is going.

OK guys…keep working through it all and stay on target. When your passion exceeds the complications you get where you need to be with a stronger constitution than when you began! It all works out in the end.

Wishing you peace, love, and light…until next time!