In my most compelling recurring dream, I wake from a nap just in time for an international flight that I’m not prepared to catch. My bags aren’t packed, my guides and maps aren’t marked—nothing is ready. I had this dream 2 or 3 times a week and it was always the same: my desperate rush to pull it all together and a too-late-so-sorry arrival at the gate while the plane is taking off.

After a month of restless sleep and heartache, I planned a response to the apparent lesson. The next time I found myself in the dream, I picked up my passport and purse and walked right out the door. No luggage or maps or snacks or books or anything I typically take when I travel. That time, I caught my flight. And I haven’t had that dream again.

Sometimes I wonder if I have the nerve to really do that. My usual process for trips, projects, grocery shopping, etc., includes plenty of preparation: thoughtful planning, detailed lists, and a search for good advice.

This is likely why I enjoyed X Marks the Spot, where Lea thoroughly documents how she and her husband take on living and working from locations all over the world. Full of resources, lists, charts, and stories, it’s a useful guide for anyone aspiring to an independent, mobile workstyle.

My Review

Rather than write a play-by-play of her book (she has that on her blog), I’ll share a broader view. It holds plenty of lessons on setting and achieving goals—something all of us can benefit from, no matter where we’re headed next.

• Ask (and answer) questions
  Throughout the book, Lea shares questions she and her husband ask during the planning and execution of their travels. From “Do we want to do something completely different?” to “So where to next?”, it’s clear that their new nomadic life is a thoughtfully considered quest, as our own Life Adventure can be. She helps us along with questions for reflection, such as “Where would you rather be?” and “Why not you?”
• Sum it up
  My favorite parts of the book are Lea’s lists. Almost every chapter is complemented with boxed, bulleted, and/or numbered lists of lessons, beliefs, facts, and questions. They are an effective break from—and work well in tandem with—her narrative, and a confirmation that valuable clarity can come from distilling our discussions (both inner and outer) to a handful of key points.
• Stand your ground
  Lea and her husband met with resistance from friends and family when they shared their idea to “do something completely different”. They also have their own doubts from time to time. The book has numerous suggestions for dealing with naysayers and doubters (even when it’s you ).
• Build a plan
  If you’d like to read a practical example of planning a major life change, their story includes detailed accounts of critical planning elements like: getting started, uncovering hidden issues, working with finances, setting milestones, and preparing for contingencies.
• Track your progress
  Whether you maintain a journal or diary, or chart hard data, it’s critical to log the ups and downs as you take steps toward your goals. My planner and journal resuscitate me on deflated days, when I feel I haven’t accomplished anything. Pages of checked items and “Atta girl!” moments prove that I’m moving forward. As travel diary, journal, checklist, and guidebook, X Marks the Spot clearly reveals their progress.
• Learn from mistakes
  From overpaying for accommodations to choosing (and fleeing) a less-than-ideal location, Lea and her husband made their share of mistakes. The important thing for them—and for us—was recognizing the underlying issues that led them astray and using feedback to move forward on a better path.

With all of that, X Marks the Spot is more than a travel guide, a personal narrative, and a how-to for dreamers like me. It’s a blueprint to taking on your biggest dreams, even if they don’t include be-bopping all over the globe.

And what about you?

If your work is tied to where you live, imagine for a moment that it isn’t—will you:

• Move out of the city? Or into one?
• Enjoy being a snowbird? Or escape wicked summer heat in a mild northern climate?
• Take the opportunity to move wherever, whenever?
• Savor the option to stay right where you are, somewhat immune to the whims of your local job market?

Whether we choose to travel or stay put, X Marks the Spot is a useful guide to finding our way to and through our next adventure.

Click here to buy this book from Lea at Location Independent Living

Note: This is not a sponsored review, but I would receive a small commission from your purchase of this book or ebook. If you would prefer I didn’t, buy direct from LIP.

Et tu? How are you progressing toward your Big Dream? Do you have a tried and true process for reaching your goals? Lemme know down below!

I’m big on Web applications because they free us to work from any Internet-connected computer on the planet. But when your work requires software that doesn’t (yet) have a Web 2.0 equivalent—or software that is proprietary or has a limited license—only your own computer will do.

Remote access software resolves that problem beautifully by helping us view and operate our home computer from almost any other computer, as long as we can connect to the Internet. Beth at HankerAm Store asked me about remote access options way back on March 21:

My question to you is, we are looking for remote access software. The only one I know of is pcAnywhere. Are you familiar with something in this venue? I would appreciate your input.

I promised her an answer the following week, and then the week after that. Now on week 3, I have to admit there are too many remote access applications to explore and report on each one thoroughly. It’s better to list the remote access apps that Dan (my hubby-to-be) and I use every day with ease and success, and include a few that I haven’t used, but covet.

Remote access at home

I am not network savvy. When Dan talks about firewalls and tunneling, I just grin and nod—I’m attentive, but clueless about what he’s saying. Clearly, my ideal remote access app would be dead simple to set up, and also free with no download. That’s the dream. In reality, I have:

Windows Remote Desktop Connection
My Windows XP computer has a built-in remote access application named Remote Desktop Connection. While there was no download and it’s essentially free, it’s not a simple click-and-go operation.

Connecting to my computer from afar requires either configuring a Terminal Services Gateway for our home network, or preconfiguring our firewall to receive my outside connection request (grin and nod…). Setup aside, this is an easy way to access my computer from another PC because the software is already installed.

UltraVNC
At home, I regularly connect to my home office computer from a laptop using UltraVNC. This allows me to sit anywhere (kitchen table, couch, patio, bed) and work as if I was at my desk. I’m home all day, every day, so it’s nice to change venue from time to time! UltraVNC is free, but requires download and installation of the UltraVNC Server and/or the UltraVNC Viewer on both computers.

Setting up UltraVNC within our home network was easy, and Dan considers it worth the bit of effort because it’s a little faster than Windows Remote Desktop. However, UltraVNC is not our first choice for connecting from the outside. The necessary software installation on the “guest” machine is rarely practical or possible.

Remote access for support and administration

RealVNC
Dan’s IT services company uses the free, bare bones, general public license version of RealVNC to access customer servers and networks remotely. It’s favored by one of his coworkers, but is just one of many implementations of the VNC protocol.

WebEx Remote Support
When supporting isolated workstations, Dan’s company uses Remote Support by WebEx. The application has great features and a 14-day free trial, but a single seat license costs $175/month and requires a 3-month commitment. Their no-commitment Pay Per Use plan is 33¢/minute for each participant in the session. Ack.

Crossloop
When Dan has a less-than-tech-savvy client at the remote computer, he bypasses WebEx’s Remote Support for free and friendly Crossloop. Remote Support has more features, but Crossloop’s screens are Fisher Price cute and easier to manage.

Remote access for tutoring and demos

Glance
For a quick and easy one-way connection so a client can view my screen and control my computer, I love Glance. Clients just open up a Web browser and type a 4-digit access code—nothing for them to download or install.

Other screen sharing programs have a whiteboard, VOIP, webcam video, and drawing features; but Glance is easy to use, with no configuration required. Notably, it supports up to 100 guests at a flat rate $50/month for unlimited use.

Remote access, the dream

I went hunting for the cream of the remote access crop and came up with a handful that are not at all free (for long-term commercial use, anyway) and offer all kinds of yummies:

The usual suspects
GoToMyPC and WebEx’s PCNow appear to be the better biggies of the remote access world, and have features I hanker for, like access by mobile phone and local printing of remote documents. They both offer 30-day free trials, and while GoToMyPC costs $20/month, PCNow is only $13/month.

Best bit: PCNow offers 100MB of secure offline storage that stays in sync with your computer’s files.

TeamViewer
This one is especially interesting because it doesn’t require installations on either computer. A download, certainly, but somehow the program runs even if you don’t have administrative rights to the workstation—to me, that’s big magic. Teamviewer has many big-cost features, but is free for non-commercial use. A lifetime term business license is a pricey $669, but feature-rich.

Best bit: Brand and fully customize your customer’s sign in module at no extra cost with the business license.

Et tu? Do you use one of these remote access apps, or something I didn’t list here? How do you like it? Lemme know down below!

Last month I was energized by Location Independent Living’s tried and true list of portable office necessities. Armed with that and lists of webware, I felt ready to wean myself from traditional software and create an entirely mobile workspace.

And then I really looked at my office.

Books and reference manuals and journals and manila folders and morgue bins and binders and notepads and legal pads and photos and art and pottery—and dozens of Post-Its stuck to my desktop, monitor, and each other.

Crap!

(Emphatically and literally)

In my zeal to go NoWare, I forgot that an office is more than a computer and a coordinated desk set. My office (and maybe yours, too) includes a gazillion pieces of valued information that live on paper.

If I was on the move, I couldn’t carry 99% of it. I could easily leave my knickknacks, art, and morgues behind. Same with the journals and references, because their information can surely be found online. Aside from notepads (which I would take), there’s only one thing left to manage—that slew of yellow sticky notes.

I love Post-Its. Those quick jots on tiny pages are a trail of the day’s events, reminding me of small, critical things like blog post ideas and returning DVD rentals. Fortunately, Web 2.0 came through with fun and easy tools to replace them. Here’s how and where my mini-mountain of scribble scraps is going digital:

Reminders: I Want Sandy

Sandy is my gyrrrrl (as the kids say)! This automated entity is the queen of efficiency as she:

• accepts my messages from Gmail, Twitter, and Jott
• confirms each message with an immediate reply
• reschedules, updates, cancels, and recaps reminders on request
• sends timely reminders by email, tweet, and text
• works all day, every day—for free

There are tons of cool things about this service, but I love that I can manage my schedule from anywhere with email, tweets, and (thanks to Jott) voice, all from venues I’m already monitoring. Aside from fact checks for this post, I haven’t visited IWantSandy.com since I signed up over the weekend.

The service is gratis and, as far as I can tell, ad-free. They will surely need to charge for it sometime and, since Sandy has become indispensable in less than a week, I’ll be happy to pay.

Ideas and to-do lists: Stikkit

Before creating IWantSandy, the clever folks at Values of n developed Stikkit, a digital sticky note on steroids. While Sandy collects top-of-mind tidbits that need reminding, Stikkit is my place for items lacking deadlines.

What interests me most is how Stikkit casually accomplishes complex things, such as:

• creating a checkoff-able item if a dash precedes a line of text
• extracting names, phone numbers, and email addresses to build an address book
• extracting URLS to build a list of bookmarks
• maintaining a calendar from items with dates
• accepting tags to relate stikkits, peeps (contacts), and all else

The best thing is Stikkit, like Sandy, understands common language like “lunch tomorrow” and “call next Wednesday”. It’s tough to explain, but fun to watch. Check out the video tutorials to see Stikkit in use.

Unfortuately, Stikkit’s kinship with Sandy doesn’t make them close. Specifically, they don’t talk to each other. There’s no integration between the applications, though I read in the forums they can be kept in sync with CC’ed emails. I also read that big sister Stikkit isn’t getting any more parental support (i.e., is no longer in development).

Still, I like having a place online for my bits and pieces, and Stikkit feels a bit more feature-rich than other online options, like Ta-Da.

Update: Forgot to add that Stikkit is also free!

If wishes were fishes

After an hour or two of typing, half of my desk notes are gone. Equally important is that I haven’t created more! I record reminders with Sandy throughout the day, mostly with TwitterFox, and always have a Stikkit.com window open. I’m very excited (and relieved) by what I’ve accomplished so far.

Still, I wish Stikkit or Sandy would automatically sync with either Outlook or Google Calendar. This is important for me because Outlook bridges Google Calendar and my Windows Mobile phone, which do not effectively communicate with each other. While Google Calendar’s SMS/text reminders maul my phone plan limits, and their emails get lost in my Inbox flurry, reminders for Outlook appointments are a free and well-integrated phone feature.

Each service has unique benefits and features (Google Calendar automatically extracts events from email, Jott talks to Sandy, etc.) and it would be great if they could keep themselves in accord. Both Stikkit and Sandy offer downloadable files that Outlook can import, but that’s a manual process I’m happy to avoid.

Et tu? Do you use Jott, Stikkit, or I Want Sandy for your business operations? How do you like (or dislike) them? Lemme know down below!

I’m determined to abandon software by running my business with online tools and Web 2.0 applications, and it didn’t take long to find I’m not the only one experimenting with working 100% from the Web.

In no particular order, here are the top posts and articles I’ve found on the topic (so far):

Online Tools for Working Abroad
Danny hit the beach last month and is working 100% Web (including phone and mail). His goal is to move freely from beach to beach, access everything from Internet cafes, and have insurance in case his laptop disappears. This list includes detailed explanations and screenshots for each Web application.

Tools For The Mobile Office
This is a relatively short list of online business tools, but it’s worth listing because Brick compares his favorites to what Danny (above) and Computerworld’s Mike Elgan are using. They are unanimous on some (photo storage and snail mail) and totally disagree on others (data storage, meetings, personal finance, and to do lists). Food for thought…

More Tools For A LIP (Location Independent Professional) Business
Lea offers a concise list of the web applications she uses for business operations while she and her husband travel around the world. As you read, be sure to note which Web apps she’s phasing out and why.

Online Business Toolbox: 230+ Tools for Running a Business Online
Whoa! Cameron compiled an alarmingly comprehensive list of web applications suitable for running a small to medium-sized business. Everything from Accounting to Virtual Office is listed here, including “industry-specific” options for real estate and retail management. FYI: I counted 237

The Freelancer’s Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need
Yoav collected a hecto-list of web applications that has few in common with Cameron’s 230+ (above). He appear to have a looser definition of “web application”—Web services like Moo are included—but it’s still a wide and wonderful list of what the Web offers to microbusinesses like ours. Be sure to read all the way to the end, commenters contributed some useful links.

And an extra that’s only a little off topic:

Putting Together A Portable Office That You Can Take With You Anywhere You Go
Another from Lea—this is her tried and true list of bits and pieces you’ll need for a fully-functioning on-the-go office, whether you’re using software or web applications.