Tag: seamless

The girl in the airport kiosk just saved my life. As I write, I am writing using wifi. Free, unfiltered and no-strings-attached airport wifi. What a blessing.

The IGNITE talk in Santiago finished last night, and on only 2 hours of sleep I had to go the airport. My plane was delayed 3 hours and I had no wifi. Another 3 hour delay for my next connection. I have a report to turn in today for a client. And now I can hand it in on time! So glad that it’s 2 pm here but only 9 am on the west coast…

I gave 3 examples in my IGNITE talk about running seamless experiments in Costa Rica, Budapest, and Buenos Aires – all which had lessons and failings. Like working in the airport, it was all about learning how to get what you needed, and truly work from anywhere.

Here are some examples in which the goal was continuous (seamless) work without interruption, and organized such that I could essentially remain incognito to my coworkers.

1) In Costa Rica, I was lured by the promise of strong wifi and continuous power. These are the basics of what I list as the Mobility Criteria.

But when I arrived, the wifi was shared between a long list of nearby businesses. I had approximately 1/12th of the bandwidth I was promised! Also, the power would frequently go out, which incured the frustration of… no one. People would shrug their shoulders and head to the beach!

2) In Budapest, I stayed with a friend (versus a crowded, dirt-floor hostel) in an apartment, in an attempt to increase my available Internet bandwidth. I ventured out to a cafe one night after finding out that it had wifi and that it was open until 12 am midnight. Bingo!

At a quarter to 8 pm I asked the waiter if they had wifi and he said yes. Great! So I got the password, ordered some food. I ate my food (a sandwich and some Gulyasleves, a.k.a. goulash). Then, I opened my laptop. It was 8 pm. The password worked, but the Internet did not.

I asked the waiter what happened and he said, “We turn the wifi off at 8 pm so that people will socialize from 8pm-12am.” Bad luck.

3) Learning my lessons, I went to Buenos Aires, Argentina. There, I had my own room, my own wifi and power. This time, I got what I needed

There I was, on a conference call, with Budweiser, mid-day, when suddenly… someone starts jack-hammering through the side of the building. A jackhammer?! Just when I thought I’d seen it all. The noise-canceling headphones I swore by were no match for that jackhammer. The power was cut, and … the call was lost.

The lesson from these three incidence are: You never know what’s going to happen. Really, you don’t. You can be in any country and any city of the world, and following the Mobility Criteria, and still have things happen. The key, as with any entrepreneur, is to be resilient and to be flexible.

Keep running experiments, keep being mobile. Each experience is a learning experience and a step forward for the Anywhere Entrepreneur.

What was your last experience like working remotely?  Have you had similar challenges?  

Talk about seamless travel. Let me tell you a story.

I missed my flight due to a 3 hour commute with my taped-up duffle bag. Trying to save $100 may end up causing me more later in back problems, but I was determined to give up some cash.

I missed the baggage check-in by 10 minutes. So I had to sleep at the airport yetagain. Normally, I’m prepared for this, and I love getting wifi and quiet time. Not the case this time.

It was the coldest night in 3 years in NYC, and with revolving doors, pre-security gate, the draft was continuous. I ended up giving my metro card and travel hand lotion to William, a schizophrenic homeless man who I ended up chatting with for half of the night. We met in a 24 hour Subway, where we’d both meandered into to find a warm spot in the airport. It helped out a fellow person and it lightened my load.

Boingo came to the rescue. I had never purchased it before, but now that I’m without a phone and can’t tether, I decided to try it out. Plus, they had a pretty sweet promotion going on: Full service for $4.98 USD per month. (Note: Can’t wait to update more later about my experience with Boingo while on the go and just how seamless it is. Definitely keeping an eye on them.)

When I’m prepared with WiFi, extra clothes, packed lunch, and toiletries, and feel safe, then not much else matters. I’m covered. However, I didn’t think I would be forced to lug around 100 lbs of duct-taped gigantic body bag all night, taking it with me to the bathroom and everywhere else I went per Port Authority (on the bright side, I do feel pretty buff! Move over, p90x).

But, even with that, I knew to prepare. I wasn’t the only one who JUST missed the baggage window. Another girl on the flight had the same luck, and was crying and hysterically berating the attendant. All I could think about was that I was glad that wasn’t me. Don’t get me wrong, I was miserable and disappointed. But thanks to being able to just pop up my laptop anywhere, I knew I wasn’t stuck.

The only thing I was worried about was my 11:30 am PST meeting along with the time change. I’d get in with 2 hours to spare.

The morning flight rolls around and I get to board, finally ditching my bags – woohoo! But due to strong winds, the flight was delayed. And rerouted, tacking on an extra nearly 2 hours.

I’ll just email them in-flight, I thought. But, no Boingo, so I couldn’t. The plane landed and, with minutes to spare, I was able to grab a coffee and plug in at Starbucks (#thingsiloveaboutseattle). I actually had a spot to sit down with Wifi and power.

Connecting with Google Voice from the same number as my phone, with noise canceling headphones, and in the meeting on time. I could be doing this anywhere! And that’s just the point!

When’s the last time you worked seamlessly while?