We've Worked in... Australia

This series is about places that we’ve been able to visit because of our freelance lifestyle. This isn’t just so that I can share my travel photos; there is a larger point! We have been able to take more holidays or stay longer because we could combine our work with travel. I want more people to get involved in online freelancing and I hope that this series will inspire you. Yes, you.

We've Worked in... Australia

This was a particularly unexpected trip. I have been working with a client in Australia for nearly a year. Our relationship has gone from strength to strength and he invited me to the land down under to be part of his team planning for 2016. I asked Agi if she wanted to join me... stupid question!

My client had a few things on the agenda so this was a working holiday. I was scheduled to go to the offices in Sydney CBD on Monday and then up to Brisbane for 3 days Wed-Fri. The rest of the time was ours so Agi and I decided to go for 10 days. I have a good friend from when I worked in Japan who lives in Sydney. She very kindly offered to let us stay at her house while we were there; I love it when a plan comes together.

We flew down to Sydney overnight and landed on Friday morning. We found our hostel but couldn't check in until the afternoon so we asked for a cafe recommendation. We were directed to Colombia Organik. They only have outdoor seating but the coffee is delicious! If you're in Sydney check them out. After that we needed to do some work so we found a cafe with some indoor seating and got down to it.

In the evening we met up with my friend Marie and went to see Furnace and the Fundamentals. They were a great band that performed a mash up of every popular song from the last 40 years. We may have got a little drunk and had a boogie! The next morning we hurriedly checked out of our hotel as we had overslept (nothing to do with the hangover). We couldn't go over to Marie's house until the afternoon so we went for a walk through the botanical gardens up to the Opera House. At this point we were both struck with what a beautiful city Sydney is.

On Sunday Agi and I went to Coogee beach and did the famous coastal walk up to Bondi beach. The weather was spectacular and the views breathtaking. The main image for this article was taken during that walk.

On Monday I went in to my client's offices. I really enjoyed saying "We've just flown in from Bangkok for a meeting in Sydney". Something I never expected when I started freelancing but life is full of unexpected treats. Tuesday was more work in the morning before heading up to Manly to meet Marie who works there and walk along the beach. A couple of beers on Manly Wharf before heading home. Did I mention that Sydney is beautiful? Manly is absolutely gorgeous.

Wednesday to Friday we were in Brisbane taking part in a workshop for a small business owner group my client is a member of. Again, I took great pleasure in telling people I met there that I'd flown in from Bangkok for the meeting! Small things...

Saturday and Sunday were typically Australian. A long day drinking at the beach on Saturday then a recovery barbecue on Sunday. We had a great time and I loved Sydney. I went there 10 years ago and wasn't impressed but this time I loved it. Either Sydney has changed, or I have, or we both have. This thought reminded me of one of my favourite quotes

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man. - Heraclitus

Anyway, I could imagine living in Sydney one day if it wasn't so shockingly expensive!

Another great trip enabled by freelancing! Get in touch with us and see how you can freelance and have more holidays.

We've Worked in... Taiwan

This series is about places that we've been able to visit because of our freelance lifestyle. This isn't just so that I can share my travel photos; there is a larger point! We have been able to take more holidays or stay longer because we could combine our work with travel. I want more people to get involved in online freelancing and I hope that this series will inspire you. Yes, you.

We've Worked in... Taiwan

I may have mentioned before that Agi is a passionate runner. Seriously, as I write this she has gone to do a 50km run (a marathon and a bit) for training. Well, Agi has a friend, Karen, from the running club in Bangkok, who recently moved to Taiwan. Agi, her other friend Monika and Karen all wanted to do a (no joke) 100km trail run (up and down MOUNTAINS!) in north Taiwan. So off we went!

There were a number of set backs before we even left. A typhoon came in and laid waste to the proposed running trail so the organisers cancelled the race. In its place they offered a (paltry!) 15km race for everyone who had registered. Being the intrepid adventurers we are, and because we had already bought our plane tickets, we decided to brave the typhoon rains in Taiwan. On the way there we flew with V Air, an airline I'd never heard of, but they were great. They bring their mascot down the plane for photos during the flight!?

We had a day in Taipei to kill before meeting up with our friends so we went exploring. We went to the top of Taipei 101, which had a disappointing view on account of the typhoon (duh). However we did get to learn about the world's largest and heaviest wind damper through a bizarre video narrated by the damper babies. I have to hand it to the marketing people at Taipei 101. They took a 660 ton steel sphere and made it into cute / scary characters that they can sell. The video is simultaneously extremely strange and really interesting. Take a look, it's only 2 mins.

We stayed in a capsule hotel which was kinda cool. Although we were warned NOT to turn off the AC as we would probably suffocate... that's the button right next to your bed... which you might accidentally knock during the night... sleep well!

I did some work the next morning in the hotel common room. If you're a digital nomad who wants a cheap, comfortable night in a nice area of Taipei with a good working space then I can recommend Inn Cube Minquan!

That afternoon we got a train up to Fulong in the north where we met Karen and her family. It's a really nice small town. We were staying in a campsite on the edge of town so off we went to set up the tents! The next day Agi, Monika and Karen went off to do their run while I explored the area with Karen's husband Ben and their two kids Manu and Eddie. Quote of the day:

Me: That's a cool t-shirt Manu, what is it?

Manu: Pokemon

Me: Who's your favourite Pokemon?

Manu (raises eyebrow): Do you even know about Pokemon?

We went to the beach, wandered around the town and visited the temple. I do like Chinese temples, if only because there are not enough dragons on European churches.

After Fulong we went to stay with Karen for a few days in Taichung. We did some great things:

• Went to the hot springs where everyone was too scared to go in the nude section
• Road bikes around Sun Moon Lake which looks like a lake in the Italian mountains
• Stuffed ourselves with food at the night market. They even had good bread which is sorely missing in Thailand!

I was able to fit in some work each morning because I bought a Taiwanese data SIM card (one of my freelancer top tips). $15 USD for a 4G card with more data than I could use! All in all we had a great time and I would love to go back to Taiwan and see more of the country

Another great trip enabled by freelancing! Get in touch with us and see how you can freelance and have more holidays.

We've Worked in... Kanchanaburi

This series is about places that we've been able to visit because of our freelance lifestyle. This isn't just so that I can share my travel photos; there is a larger point! We have been able to take more holidays or stay longer because we could combine our work with travel. I want more people to get involved in online freelancing and I hope that this series will inspire you. Yes, you.

We've Worked in... Kanchanaburi

So this time we headed off to Kanchanaburi with Agi’s parents. Kanchanaburi is famous for two reasons: astounding natural beauty and being the site of the “death railway” made famous by the 1957 film The Bridge on the River Kwai.

We had a few false starts here as we wanted to take the train. Trains to Kanchanaburi do not leave from Bangkok central train station but the southern train station. Which is in the west of the city!? Anyway, the first 4 taxi drivers I spoke to claimed to never have heard of Thonburi station which made me start to doubt my own sanity. Or my ability to speak Thai. Taxi #5 was a winner so off we went. The delay in finding a taxi combined with Bangkok traffic to make it close run thing as to whether we made the train. The last 400 meters was done on foot as someone had broken down at the entrance to the station. We made it with 5 minutes to spare and off we went on the train to Kanchanaburi.

The views from the train were wonderful; paddy fields and forests… and the occasional big pile of trash. We arrived at mid morning and were picked up by the boat to take us to our private island.

Well, not really private but our hotel in Kanchanaburi is on its own little island. A shower and a change of clothes later and we were off to visit the Thailand / Burma Railway Centre. The museum covers the building of the railway by the Japanese army during the second world war. Over 100,000 prisoners of war and civilians died during the process. Not a happy subject but an excellent museum. After the museum we went to see the famous bridge and enjoyed a beer in a floating restaurant. You can see a lovely photo here.

In the evening and the next morning we fit in a few hours work because we need to earn money to pay for private islands!

Erawan National Park is the other highlight of Kanchanaburi. We hired a driver and went off for an afternoon of hiking and swimming in the waterfalls. I can honestly say this is one of the best things I have done in some time! I loved it, the pools are gorgeous. After hiking up to step 5 of the waterfalls I was soaked in sweat. Jumping into the pool was a perfect remedy. Cold, fresh water full of fish which nibble your toes. We had a great time swimming, taking photos and acting like tarzan… sort of

On the way back down we stopped in the lowest pool for another swim when somebody shouted. We turned to see what Agi thought was a crocdile and I thought was a snake. There was a brief panic similar to the scene from Jaws before we realised it was actually a monitor lizard. I have seen monitors around south east Asia but this was the best for me. The lizard was beautiful black and gold and swam through the water so elegantly. We watched her swim and hunt for fish until she disappeared into the jungle. Unfortunately, we only had Agi's dad's phone with us and the camera... well, let's just say it isn't great:

The next day was a work day in the hotel lobby while we waited for the train back to Bangkok.

Another good day and another great weekend enabled by freelancing! Get in touch with us and see how you can freelance and have more holidays.

Why Work in Customer Support?

Who'd Work in Customer Support?

There’s this image of online customer support jobs being a poorly paid grind where you suffer through annoying/abusive customers while you try to make the day go quicker until you can either quit the job or retire old and bitter.

And I’m not going to tell you that there isn’t an element of truth in all of that; there are customers that make you want to claw your eyes out, ploughing through tickets/calls can feel like a grind, and there are customer support jobs that pay peanuts.

Mostly this image comes from businesses that don’t give a crap about customer service, to these types of companies it’s all about keeping costs low and, it seems, staff turnover high. But in the startup community (and other businesses are catching on) quality customer service is held in the highest regard.

Startups realised that improving their customer service can differentiate them from competitors and, in a world where you can copy someone else's multi million dollar app for a few hundred bucks, differentiation is hard currency.

So what does customer support look like in this brave new world?

Dollar Dollar Bill Y’all

In a survey of 60 customer service pros, done by the excellent folks over at Support Driven, the average salary was $63,688 for men and $69,591 for women; bucking the trend right? I could write a book about why I think women generally make better customer service agents but that’s for another time.

Considering that the average salary in the US is around $26,695 and about $40,000 in the UK that’s a big step up.

And, before you say anything, this isn’t just for seasoned customer service vets that manage a team of 20 and work 70 hour weeks!

In the same survey they looked at average salaries for different experience levels. Which showed that even as a newbie to the customer service game you’re looking at an average that again is much higher than the average wage in both the US and UK.

Customer Service Matters

It really does. I swear! Think about it from the business’ perspective. To them, as a customer service rep you have the ability to;

• Make a sale: many startups offer a free version of their service, if you can fix a problem for a customer there’s a better chance they will then pay for that service.
• Stop ‘em leaving: I don’t mean physically! But if a customer has a problem and you can fix it for them, then they don’t leave and that means at least another month’s subscription.
• Get more of ‘em: exceptional customer service spreads like wildfire. If you don’t believe me check out all of the articles written about Zappos' legendary customer service. Forbes, Business Insider, and Huffington post have all written them up.

The common theme here is that as a customer support rep you’re not an employee that sucks money out of the company - which is the traditional way to think about customer service, in fact you are doing just the opposite.

That’s not all either, if a company was a human then the customer support department would be the ears, eyes and nose. You are at the forefront of change, you know what the customers are saying about the product, service and marketing. If the company you work for doesn’t take customer service suggestions seriously, then they really aren’t worth working for.

It’s a Lifestyle Choice

The companies that are looking to create customer service teams that go above and beyond don’t want employees that are faking it. They want people that are naturals. People who work in customer service because it’s what they are good at and not just a stop gap while they decide what to do with their life.

I’ll go into detail about what characteristics make for an exceptional customer support person in another article but it’s important to know it’s a two way street. Companies expect you to be yourself and in return they are offering you a lifestyle that suits you; competitive wages, flexible working hours, remote working and some great perks.

5 years ago I decided that’s what I wanted from a work/lifestyle and it’s the best choice I ever made. Get in touch with us to learn more.

We've Worked in... Ko Lanta

This series is about places that we've been able to visit because of our freelance lifestyle. This isn't just so that I can share my travel photos; there is a larger point! We have been able to take more holidays or stay longer because we could combine our work with travel. I want more people to get involved in online freelancing and I hope that this series will inspire you. Yes, you.

We've Worked in... Ko Lanta, Thailand

This article comes to you from the beautiful island of Ko Lanta in southern Thailand. Agi and I have come here for a long weekend with Agi's parents as they are visiting us in Thailand. We flew down from Bangkok on Thursday and had a nice meal by the beach in the evening. There may or may not have been a few beers involved. On Friday morning we did some slightly hungover work from our bungalow then rented a motorbike and went to explore in the afternoon.

We arranged a scuba diving trip with Palm Beach Divers for Saturday. We chose Palm Beach because the lady in our guest house recommended them. As it turned out they are a Polish owned company. This couldn't have been more fortuitous as Agi's parents are Polish and now we had guides in their native language!

On Saturday morning we were picked up early by the dive shop and jumped on the boat to take us to Koh Bida Noi. The sea was pretty rough once we left Ko Lanta but when we got there the diving was great: eels, cuttlefish, my first catfish, even a giant jellyfish! We did 3 dives that day while Aga's dad snorkelled. His very first time snorkelling and he saw 3 sharks! We didn't see a single one, how is that fair!? A good day was had by all and everyone slept well that night. Sunday morning Agi got up early and went for a run on the beach where she made a couple of friends.

After breakfast we did an hour or so of work again before getting on our motorbikes with Agi's dad. This time we drove over to see Ko Lanta Old Town on the other side of the island. It was a nice ride but on the way back the clouds got darker and darker until the inevitable happened.

Despite the rain we had fun riding around the island.  Even when the wind was blowing rain at 9 billion mph into our faces! Later on we went to try a little vegetarian cafe we had seen near our hotel called Kunda. Would you believe, it was owned by another Polish lady. She and Agi had a nice chat and she gave Agi a book. The food there was amazing, we had two types of polish Zapiekanka; basically a kind of French bread pizza.

Another good day and another great weekend enabled by freelancing! Get in touch with us and see how you can freelance and have more holidays.