Travelling & SEO?

[Danny29]

Hi Everybody,

I had no idea where to post this online and i thought SEOmoz was an awesome place to start!

I own a small digital marketing agency in the UK, i started it when i was 17 and i have won a number of awards from young entrepreneur of the year and i have worked with some large organisations. At the moment i am currently 21 and i have always wanted to go travelling and see the world.

I have told my clients that i am going travelling and some are staying with me and some are leaving due to them liking that human contact / meet ups. what is totally fine.

In October i am travelling around Australia and i was wondering if anybody has done anything like this before? I have always wanted to do it and keep coming up with excuses why i can't do it, but im just going to go for it!!!!

I was thinking that i could travel from city to city working for different SEO agencies, i mainly work as a consultant because i find it extremely easy to start talking to people and generate leads. Do you think it would be better to work for somebody or pitch that im on my own travelling and can do it remotely. I can see why it wouldn't appeal to a agency to take somebody one as "part-time" and for somebody who could "steal" their business, im guessing i could get a contract together explaining that i will not work with any leads generated for their business?

How would you go about getting work / getting paid?

I have some websites what make income from absence but nothing life changing... just a few ££ per month.

Any advice from anybody who has been travelling / done something like before would be extremely loved by me!

THANK YOU!!!!!!

[RuiZhiDong]

I lived around 23 years in Sydney. Once you have a network and something to show, it's pretty straight forward to generate business but I think this is true in Sydney as it is in most places around the world.

Good luck with everything Danny and let us know how you do!!

[Danny29]

Thanks for the response mate,

That's what im hoping to do is to sub-contract all the work and just do the consulting. How long have you lived in Sydney? Do you find generating business easy in Australia?

Fingers crossed, i will be able to pick up some freelance jobs while im travelling

Thanks

Danny

[Danny29]

Thanks for response mate,

As cheesy as it sounds, i mainly only generate the business because people know my face around the area i operate in and that's how i generate business because people know of me. Everything goes through me as well, that's from contact to the client even down to me sending the reports to them. Also everything is electronic so payments come through instantly.

Their isn't many clients who are staying so i will need to be generating business when i am travelling.

Thanks

Danny

[Danny29]

Thanks for response James,

I am going for a working visa and hoping to generate work while travelling. I do that at the moment when i generate business then sub contract it out.

This is my plan of auction, go to networking events / business meet up and see if i can pick up any SEO / Web projects then get partnered with an SEO agency and they provide a white label product. So all i need to do is get business and sub it out!

How do you know that these city's have different demands for SEO work? I take it you operate within Sydney?

Thanks

Danny

[JamesNorquay]

Hi Mate,

I actually live in Australia, at the moment its not hard to get work at an agency, but it all depends what type of Visa you are coming into the country on? Working Holiday/ 457/ ect ect these are questions I would start thinking about.

Last year I was in Europe for 3 months, I have a few consulting clients and numerous web businesses, I just told the clients that I will be going away for 3 months and that if it was possible we could put things on hold for 3 months and get some of my contractors to work 3 days a month on the client to kick over the work.

I also checked in with emails and what not when I was on holidays and recovering from a big night out.

I can tell you this but from Australia:

1. Sydney - Heaps of SEO work.

2. Melbourne - a fair bit of SEO work.

3. Brisbane - limited SEO work.

Then most other city's it is limited as Australia's business is primarily done via these main city's.

[RuiZhiDong]

First of all, I think that you'll have a fantastic time travelling in Australia. I actually spent most of my life in Sydney and now I find myself traveling around Europe. So my advice is just to get out there and do it!

I have clients in various places around the world on a monthly retainer and I set expectations at the start. I do most of my work remotely and I outsource as much as I can that I don't need to do myself. This gives me the freedom to be anywhere I want to be as long as I have my laptop and an internet connection.

I'm not sure trying to get consulting jobs city to city would work. But if you can get your existing clients on a monthly retainer, then you can just work on them while you're travelling and pick up some freelance jobs here and there to supplement your income.

[Francisco_Meza]

I say you keep your current clients. Hire somebody on a part time basis and have the checks sent to your parents house or your best friend. Have them deposit the checks and pay them a fee. OR hire a book keeper to do it for you.

I am hiring someone locally so that I can invoice my clients even when I am on vacation. It's not about "me" working; it's about my company working. Hire someone part time so they can represent your company while you go travel.