Business Archives - Big Lap Bible

The Best Deals For Camping, Caravanning & 4WDing

Rose Foster — Wed, 19 May 2021 03:03:10 +0000

There are some awesome sales online right now, until 20th May (and a little longer for some retailers). You can get some incredible offers on caravanning, camping and outdoor products.

But with so many offers to be had, traipsing through them all to find the best ones is… tiresome!

So, we’ve found 30 of the best products for you…

Other Specials

Discounts + Up To Extra $40 Off

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Up To 45% On Clearance Products

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Multiple Click Frenzy Deals

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5 Reasons To Start A Business To Fund Full-Time Travel (& 1 Reason Not To)

Rose Foster — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 03:23:55 +0000

When it comes to making money on the road, the number of options out there can be overwhelming to say the least. In my last video, I just scratched the surface of the long list of jobs that you can do from the road, when I gave you 22 different ideas. If you haven’t already, you can see that video here.

One of those ideas was ‘start your own business’. Now that in itself opens a whole can of worms – thinking about what kind of business you actually want to run is a whole other video (in fact, it’s going to be a few other videos!). But before you even start to go down that rabbit hole, let’s take a step back to look at some indicators that starting a business might be the right track for you.

You can listen to the audio of this article here:

[powerpress]

One thing that I want to address before we continue on down this series is that these videos are designed to show you the reality of working from the road, whether that be starting a business or otherwise. When you’re on your search for finding a way to fund your travels, there are so many ‘advice’ videos or ‘training programs’ which show you all the amazing sides of this method or that method of making money on the road, but rarely do they show you the downsides or paint a realistic picture of the every day reality of it.

So, if some of these videos seem a little negative, it’s because I want you to understand both sides of the story. And these ‘negatives’ aren’t necessarily going to be deal-breakers for you, they will just empower you with the knowledge you need to make things work. At the end of the day, knowing the potential pitfalls that there could be to anything you do might actually help you avoid them altogether, instead of getting blindsided by them. And I’ll take too much info over not enough any day.

And if anyone tells you what they’re doing is easy and there are no ‘cons’ to it (especially in the context of trying to sell you a training to do what they are doing), call BS!! And don’t @ me for that – or do and prove me wrong!

Ok, now that’s enough of that, let’s get to the 5 reasons you should start a business to run on the road.

Wanna watch the video?

1. You want freedom

Let’s face it, freedom is pretty much what we all want, for most of us, it’s the reason we’re doing the Big Lap in the first place. But starting a business gives you an added level of freedom on top of that too.

By having your own business and working your own hours, you can create something that will give you the freedom to travel where you want when you want. Which is awesome right?

Well, yes, it is pretty awesome, but you also need to be aware that starting a business may not give you the freedom you crave immediately. The day in the life of a start up business owner can be extremely full on, so if you’re wanting to create the ultimate freedom filled lifestyle, you may have to have many a sleepless night and long days chained to your business before you get to this point.

If you want to start a business to generate your on the road income, I would suggest that you start it ahead of time so you at least have dedicated and non-distraction filled time to get your business established. Depending on your business model will depend on how much time you need to do the hard hustle before you can enjoy the freedom that your business affords you.

It’s important to also define what freedom actually means for you (and omg if I say freedom one more time). For some, freedom means the flexibility to make decisions or work when you want. For others, freedom is only working a certain amount of hours each week. Either way, understanding your own personal definition of freedom will help you understand the type of business you should start. Certain businesses require different levels of commitment in terms of time and effort so it’s vital you don’t start a business which contradicts why you started it in the first place. If you want to work 10 hours per week but your business model requires you to do more than that to make it work, then you need to reevaluate.

2. You have a passion for something

The next reason you might want to start a business to run on the road is that you have a passion for something. If you love what you do, keeping your business going whilst on the road will inevitably be easier. With so many things to do and Big Lappy distractions at every turn, if you don’t live and breathe your business, you might crash and burn.

Most businesses take constant work and attention from their owners and if you’re constantly distracted by your adventures then you may not take the time to run your business effectively.

That said, I’m not telling you that running a business on the road takes all your time or attention (because wtf is the point in being a full-time traveller and not having any time to explore) but what I am saying is that your passion will drive you to sit down after a long day exploring and work on your business.

You might be the type of person who has the motivation to do that even if you’re not passionate about something, although that is pretty rare.

So, if you’re going to go down the business route for your on the road travel funds, I wouldn’t just pick something that you think has the potential to make money. Because the biggest potential actually comes from you, not the business model, product or service itself

3. You have the skills it takes to start a business

The third reason to start a business for your Big Lap is that you have the skills it takes to run a business. Even if you have never run a business before, you may actually have the skills it takes to start a business.

I am a firm believer that some people either have what it takes or they don’t. And I’m not talking about the actual technical skills you need to run the business, I’m talking more about personality traits.

As a business owner, you need to be resourceful, self-motivated and driven. If you don’t know how to do something, you need to be able to figure it out, research how to do it or have the funds to be able to outsource to someone who does know how to do it.

As a small business owner, there is no roadmap to success and you have to have a high level of self-conviction that you can make things work. Don’t get me wrong, you’re allowed to be scared AF, you’re allowed to have days where you don’t think you can do it BUT overall, if you can wake up to a new day, shake off your fears and tell yourself you can do it, then business ownership might be for you.

In terms of technical skills, webdesign, graphic design, digital marketing and copywriting will undoubtedly help you on your way to building a business but there are some easy ways to get good at those things fast, which I’ll be sharing in future videos so make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss those.

4. There’s a gap in the market

The fourth reason you might want to start a business to run from the road is that you see a gap in the market that you can fill. These types of businesses are usually born out of a need or desire to solve a particular ‘problem’ for yourself, and a realization that other people have the same problem as you. And when I say problem, that can be something as simple as ‘I want to buy something for our caravan that serves this purpose, looks like this and costs this’ but you can’t find one on the market. And obviously, just because you’re travelling, it doesn’t have to be travel or caravan-related.

You need to also do your market research here because there might not be a huge requirement to solve your personal pain point so you can’t just start a business because you’d personally buy that product. But anyway, that’s getting a little off topic for this video.

This desire to fill a gap in the market usually crosses over with the point about doing something you’re passionate about which I spoke about in point number 2 so it’s a bit of a double whammy.

5. You’re not afraid to step outside of your comfort zone

Finally, number 5 – you’re not afraid to step out of your comfort zone.

Starting a business constantly pushes you outside of your comfort zone, tests your resolve and challenges you. And while you may be already well-aware that this is what it takes to start and run a business, you need to consider whether you want to take that kind of stress on the road with you.

For some, constantly being pushed outside of your comfort zone may not align with the stress-free big lap you have planned. Diving on Ningaloo, climbing the cairns pyramid and skydiving over Uluru might be the only ways you want to push the boundaries of your own personal comfort zone during your Big Lap.

And if you thought ‘well those are fun and rewarding things to do so it’s worth pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, then that in itself may be an indicator that you’re not ready to allocate your ‘uncomfortability’ quota to your business. Many business owners actually get the same buzz out of running their business – it’s that scary but totally rewarding feeling that keeps them coming back for more.

And I’m just going to stick a bonus reason in here…

6. You can take your business on the road

If you have an idea for the business, make sure it works as a business with no fixed location. Or if it does need a location, make sure you have people you trust to help you run it while you’re in no fixed location…,

Why You Shouldn’t Start A Business To Fund Your Big Lap

Now finally, onto the #1 reason not to start a business – you think it will be an easy way to make a lot of money.

As I said at the very start of this video, starting a business always takes time, it always takes effort and it’s never easy. Again, I’m willing to be proven wrong here but I don’t know anyone who started their business and immediately just set up a few things and then let things run on autopilot.

You’ve probably seen courses and trainings out there that claim to give you an easy to way to make a good income on the road and I would say that 99% of them are talking total BS if they’re telling you they have a simple plug and play method to generate income on the road.

You will still need to put time and effort into your business to make money and you still might not make thousands of dollars. I actually would like to invite anyone to selling these courses to chat to me about their unique offering if they are indeed claiming they have an easy way to make money on the road!

One thing that I will say is that once a business is established, you may well be able to drop down to only working a few hours a week but in most cases businesses are like babies; they are needy af!

So, if you’re looking for the easy way out, I would say that starting a business is not for you. Remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

The takeaway

Starting a business can be the best way to fund your big lap. It gives you the ultimate freedom but it also brings a high degree of uncertainty. If you have the right mindset, have the dedication and focus required and you’re willing to put in the work, it might just be the best option for you.

If you’re starting a brand new business, don’t take it on the road and rely on it for your income before you have proven that it can be profitable though (unless of course, you have some savings and don’t need to make it work right away). Even then, the business building stage of your business usually requires the most work and if you actually start a business from the road, you could run the risk of a. Not seeing the country you set out to explore or b. Letting the business fail before it really begins because you’re exploring.

If you’re thinking about starting a business, comment below with any questions you have and I’ll do my best to answer them.

As always, make sure you subscribe and check out the link in the description for my pre-big lap business builder checklist

The post 5 Reasons To Start A Business To Fund Full-Time Travel (& 1 Reason Not To) appeared first on Big Lap Bible.

How To Do A “Normal” Job From The Road

Rose Foster — Sun, 28 Feb 2021 02:37:34 +0000

Do you love your job and wish you could take it on the road with you? Well, when COVID turned Mindy’s job into a home-based opportunity, that’s exactly what she did. In this episode of Big Lap Business, we talk to Mindy from Life In Olli to discuss how she took a ‘real’ job and turned it into her vanlife reality.

Groups Mindy spoke about: https://www.facebook.com/groups/LMBDW

Check Mindy and here family out on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/life.in.olli/

The post How To Do A “Normal” Job From The Road appeared first on Big Lap Bible.

How To Be A Travel Influencer | Big Lap Business with Lapping The Island

Rose Foster — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 04:49:51 +0000

[powerpress]

Want to be a travel influencer? Want to make money on your Big Lap of Australia and make money doing what you love? Well, when Jade and the crew from Lapping the Island set out on their road trip around Australia, they had no idea that that’s what they’d soon be doing.

In fact, Jade, a trained hairdresser, took her scissors, thinking that she could potentially make a little cash on the side! Not only did her service business take off, but they also ended up making money from a major TV show too!!

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Get Your Big Lap Bible here — https://shop.biglapbible.com.au/products/the-big-lap-bible

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Your Pre-Big Lap Business Builder Checklist — https://www.biglapbible.com.au/big-lap-business-builder-checklist/

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CONNECT WITH US

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#biglap #biglapbusiness #travelinfluencer

The post How To Be A Travel Influencer | Big Lap Business with Lapping The Island appeared first on Big Lap Bible.

Big Lap Business: 5 Challenges To Working On The Road

Rose Foster — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 02:47:20 +0000

So, you wanna quit your job, pack up your house and hit the road full time for the epic Australian adventure of a lifetime? Awesome, me too!

But there’s just one problem, right? How are you gonna fund it?

Well, in this series, I’m giving you the roadmap to funding your Big Lap so you can hit the road quicker and stay on it longer. And no, there are no get rich quick schemes, unrealistic guarantees or sketchy fake gurus in sight.

But before we get into the nitty-gritty of the hows, whys, whats, wheres and whens of building and running a business from the road, I have to get real with you about one thing. To successfully travel and work whilst living your best nomadic life, you have to have the right mindset and know exactly what you’re getting yourself into because **SPOILET ALERT** it’s not all rainbows and sunshine!

In this article, I’m breaking down the 5 things you need to know if you want to have the freedom of working from anywhere.

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1. There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Solution
2. Staying Motivated Is An Issue
3. Burnout Is Real
4. You Might Limit Yourself
5. You Might Feel Like You’re Missing Out
The Takeaway

Wanna listen to the audio version? Listen here…

[powerpress]

Here are the 5 things you need to know about working from the road so you can consistently achieve success, make money and travel for as long as you want to. Stick around til the end where I’ll share with you my simple 5 step action plan to overcoming the issues and mindset challenges I’m about to reveal.

1. There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Solution

Let’s get real, if you’re here, this likely isn’t the first article you’ve read to try and get some tips about starting a business so you can travel. If it is, I’m a little flattered, welcome to the most awesome business article you’ll ever read… ahem…

In so many tutorials, they peddle one or another way to do things. Most land on specific types of online business, which we will discuss here, but there are so many opportunities out there for travelling Aussies that I want to really drill this in now.

Don’t try to force a square peg into a round hole.

If you don’t feel like you’ve got the skills for a certain thing or if it doesn’t fit your travel style, move on. Just because your friend’s daughter’s cousin’s mum is making money on the road selling on Amazon, it doesn’t mean you have to start learning how to the Amazon FBA program works.

That said, I’m not saying you shouldn’t go out and learn a new skill, because you absolutely can and should. What I am saying is that you shouldn’t think that there are only one or two ways to make money from the road and if they don’t suit your skillset or travel style then your Big Lap dream is dead.

In this series, I’ll actually be going over the types of thing you can actually do from the road and going into detail about how to actually do them so stay tuned for those upcoming articles. And subscribe to our newsletter if that’s the type of thing you’re looking for…

Wanna watch the video instead? Remember to subscribe to our YouTube Channel here.

2. Staying Motivated Is An Issue

Hands up if you were one of those people who had to work from home during the pandemic…

Ok, hands up if you were one of those people who had to work from home during the pandemic and did literally anything else but work?

The truth is, working from home and staying motivated isn’t easy. But working from the road is even harder. I’m actually one of those people who is very self-motivated and can work a full day (or even longer) without getting up from my desk in my home office. But when I’m on the road, oh boy, I seem to turn into a different person.

With so many new things to do and see, it can be really difficult to stick to your schedule and get things done.

This problem will mainly affect those who are working from their laptop rather than in a physical job

(cause… ya know, you’ll get fired if you don’t show up)…

But it’s definitely something that you’ll likely feel at some point or another so being aware of it is vital before you set off.

3. Burnout Is Real

It’s a buzzword that’s been rife in the corporate world for years but becoming burnt out on your supposedly relaxing and stress-free lap is a real possibility.

While in my previous point I talked about not having the motivation to work this is the flip side of that… it’s working too much.

Let’s break it down…

There are a couple of reasons that you might get burnt out whilst working on the road…

1. You’re burning the candle at both ends. You’re doing too much exploring and too much work to find a happy work/vanlife balance. This is extremely common when you want to see as much as you can, but you’ve got to work as much as you can to pay for seeing as much as you can…

2. You’ve taken on too much work in the first place and you’re constantly on your laptop and you’re just too mentally exhausted to actually go and explore… which is a real struggle for people who earn money for their time like freelancers…

3. You’re trying to build a business or run it yourself and there’s just so much to do

Or, finally, number 4, which I think is a big one, is that you’re just inefficient. Ok that sounds a little harsh but speaking from personal experience, when you do little bits of work frequently you end up doing more work overall and you feel like you are constantly working…

Read on til the end as I’ll be revealing my 5 step action plan for overcoming this issue and the others on this list.

4. You Might Limit Yourself

Picture this, you’ve found this awesome free camp, set up camp and the kids have just jumped into the creek that’s running just past your van, when you pull out your laptop and **scream** shock horror, there’s no internet reception.

The truth is, you won’t get internet everywhere you go (and you probably already know that) and for many people working on the road, they absolutely need to get online to work and make that money honey!

So, depending on what you do and how long you can be without an internet connection you may be limited in where you can go.

But it’s not just those with online businesses that will be limited. If you sell products or services from your van, for example, you may need to choose a location near a town full of people to sell those things too. And the list goes on…

5. You Might Feel Like You’re Missing Out

When you’re working from the road, your Big Lap goes from the holiday of a lifetime to normal life but just on the road. And that sucks, right?

Well, not necessarily…

Talk to many Big Lappers, regardless of whether they work or not, and they’ll tell you that the Big Lap isn’t really a holiday at all, it’s a lifestyle. Ok it’s an awesome lifestyle but for most people, their lifestyle includes work.

But any time you spend working from the road is usually infinitely better than working from home (or worse, for the man!), so before you get down on yourself that you’re not getting the full Big Lap experience, know that if you’re away from ‘home’ and getting to see this awesome country of ours, then you’re likely getting the experience that everyone else is having, so you can throw that fomo out of the window now.

But — your fomo takes on a whole new level if your partner or the rest of the family is having fun while you work. Depending on what you do, it may fall to one partner or another to work, at varying times. And if that’s the case, that’s something you need to either find a mechanism to deal with or address it as a family at the outset.

The Takeaway

So, while it may seem like there are a lot of challenges to working on the road, being aware of them and finding solutions to them will undoubtedly put you ahead of the game…

And to give you a head start, here’s my 5 point action plan to overcoming all the issues I’ve spoken about to set you up for on-the-road money-making success

1. Non-Negotiables

It’s so easy to get caught up as you explore one place or another, but set yourself some non-negotiables. These can be personalized to you but things like ‘Mondays and Wednesdays are my workdays’ or ‘Dad will sort out the kids’ breakfasts so mum can work before exploring’ or ‘we need to be in phone reception every weekday’ or even ‘We need to find a job by March so we need to pause travel by this date’.

2. Work-Influenced Travel

Allowing your work to influence your travel style is a good way to enter your Big Lap. If you have set some non-negotiables that say you’re going to work on Mondays and Wednesdays, you know that you can’t travel on those days, no matter what. You might even say, every Sunday, we’ll move to the next place, stay for 7 days and then move again – maybe with the option of moving on a Thursday too.

Being aware of how your work influences your travel and being ok with that as a condition of actually doing your Big Lap will make you feel more content if you decide you have to scratch something off your list because it doesn’t fit with your style.

3. Plan Ahead

Planning ahead will save you some stress as you travel. If you need the internet, make sure you’re only heading to remote or non-service areas during your necessary workdays. If you need to find work by a certain date, make sure you’re planning ahead to get to the destination you want to get to by that date, without having to miss places you want to visit.

4. Tools of Efficiency & Anti-distraction

One of the best ways of getting the most from your Big Lap work/vanlife balance is making sure you have enough time to get shit done and explore everywhere you want to explore.

And the only way you can make sure you have enough time is to be efficient, avoid distractions and stop procrastinating.

There are a number of tools on the market that can help you be more efficient and productive like project management software like Trello or Asana (and i’ll be going over them in another video). But when it comes to distractions and procrastination, you need to find the thing that motivates you to stay on course.

Do you need to listen to music? Do you need to work from a library or coworking space? Figure out what it is that will keep you in work mode and make it a priority to implement into your routine.

5. The agreement

I would argue that this is the most important part of staying on top of your work whilst on the road without feeling like it’s a chore.

If you’re one of the many people travelling with a partner or family, it is vital that you have a family agreement in place about the requirements of the working person so work arrangements are always considered in the plan.

As the person in our household who works whilst we’re on the road, having to constantly remind my husband about when I needed to work, really didn’t work for me. It’s not that he was resistant at all about me working, it was that it wasn’t in his mind to make it a priority to find a spot by x time or worry about whether we were entering a ‘no-service’ area. Or, he’d ask me ‘hey, do you want to do this or that’ and I really either did want to do that or I didn’t want to say no and be a total killjoy.

As soon as I reminded him, it was always fine, we made it a priority.

But it comes with a certain amount of guilt, for me anyway, that you are constantly the one to stop the fun. And while hubby didn’t really see it that way, as soon as we had the ‘agreement’ in place, it made it a whole lot less stressful for me.

And the same goes for accountability. If you’re about to shirk your commitments in favour of doing something else, the agreement helps the whole family ensure that this isn’t done consistently. Obviously, you can have some flexibility but as a general rule, an accountability partner will help you stay on track.

In reality, earning money on the road shouldn’t be your main focus whilst you’re travelling. While you may spend a lot of your time actually doing the work, it’s important that you minimize the amount of time you spend actually worrying about it. That worry comes with not having enough time, not knowing where you’ll be or not having the right support system. And eventually, if you don’t keep it in check, it’s that worry that will lead you to thinking that working from the road is just too stressful, making you want to head back to your corporate safety net.

Follow my 5 step action plan to adopting the right ‘work from the road’ mindset and you’ll get into your Big Lap Business groove quickly and easily.

And if you’re looking to build a business so you can head out on your Big Lap, click here for your free Pre-Big Lap Business Builder Checklist.

The post Big Lap Business: 5 Challenges To Working On The Road appeared first on Big Lap Bible.