What if you don't have the time to be online?

[katakatica]

OK, that's possibly the worst title I could have ever come up with - I was trying for something witty, but I'm too drained. 

It happened, people. 

I... had my first week as a 'digital nomad' (...fine. it was a Workaway program. but don't tell anyone!) And quite honestly, while I did have the time to write, I did NOT have the time to check the app UNLESS I was delivering or responding to messages. So instead, I was busy taking photos, eating, talking, and other fun stuff (like, waited in line at the hostel shower.) 

So... did my orders/messages stop completely? Did I have to result to BR to secure myself an OK August? Did I cry myself to sleep on the night bus to Berlin in the midst of 50 teenagers, clutching my phone and refreshing the app even in my sleep in the hope of at least a single spammer saying 'hi'?

No.

(mind me, this is with my impression DOWN at their absolute worst in the past months, not sure why just yet, but working on it.)

I had exactly the same number of people 'knock' me AND scored a few orders already with the rest in the last phase before ordering (aka, I need to send all those custom orders through).  If anything, it was even better than the week before! While I have less orders in queue than normal, they are 'bigger' (so.. I'm going to have a reaaally busy month again. Oh, and I'm going on an island adventure to Malta in 10 days!)  

Now, I know that as a newbie, being online more CAN help a tiny bit - but honestly, as long as your gigs are interesting, people will flock to you. It's completely fine to live your life WHILE having your account open. I was busy trying to take a picture with Minnie Mouse (...couldn't in the end!) when one of my messages came in - and just waited with replying until I was back on the bus. People who are genuinely interested in your work will be fine to wait for a little for your reply... 

(I realise this is partially a bragging post and I'm very lucky to be able to travel right now. But this is why I! wanted a more laidback job in the first place. Freedom. If I had a regular job, this wouldn't have been possible for sure. So while I am certainly fortunate, I do think there's at least - some - using in 'bragging'. Taking a step back didn't do anything but help me get my inspiration back and...

eat a ton of Belgian chocolate.)

(pictures of all the food I ate while travelling are avaliable at request. Didn't wanna flod the post...)

 

[smashradio]

In my experience, you don't need to be online to get requests. I usually wake up to 5-10 messages in my inbox, and those came in while I was sleeping like a baby. Safe to say I'm not online in my sleep. So my morning coffee is used to fuel my replies, before my second, third and forth morning brews are used to fuel reading all the requirements that came in on the orders after I responded. 

After that, I'm only online when working on improving my gigs, delivering work or responding to messages. 

Welcome to the live as a nomad! :D 

[katakatica]

6 minutes ago, smashradio said:

So my morning coffee is used to fuel my replies, before my second, third and forth morning brews are used to fuel reading all the requirements that came in on the orders after I responded. 

This past week I had quite a few 'unique' places I've replied from (we were going 'round some famous cities), so on a boat in Amsterdam, service station in Belgium... But most messages definitely came in while I was napping/busy and needed to wait a tad! I don't get SO many messages on a daily basis (but..honestly, I am happy for that!) It's been fairly hectic here so far but yeah, still can't complain!
And thank you - still figuring out some things, for now these workaway things help me scope out the areas I'm curious about but come autumn I hope to leave fully and be on the go. Will have to make SOME sacrifices but... this is the most energetic I've been since last September and the BEST work I got done in a while so!

 

[shakib255]

2 hours ago, katakatica said:

OK, that's possibly the worst title I could have ever come up with - I was trying for something witty, but I'm too drained. 

It happened, people. 

I... had my first week as a 'digital nomad' (...fine. it was a Workaway program. but don't tell anyone!) And quite honestly, while I did have the time to write, I did NOT have the time to check the app UNLESS I was delivering or responding to messages. So instead, I was busy taking photos, eating, talking, and other fun stuff (like, waited in line at the hostel shower.) 

So... did my orders/messages stop completely? Did I have to result to BR to secure myself an OK August? Did I cry myself to sleep on the night bus to Berlin in the midst of 50 teenagers, clutching my phone and refreshing the app even in my sleep in the hope of at least a single spammer saying 'hi'?

No.

(mind me, this is with my impression DOWN at their absolute worst in the past months, not sure why just yet, but working on it.)

I had exactly the same number of people 'knock' me AND scored a few orders already with the rest in the last phase before ordering (aka, I need to send all those custom orders through).  If anything, it was even better than the week before! While I have less orders in queue than normal, they are 'bigger' (so.. I'm going to have a reaaally busy month again. Oh, and I'm going on an island adventure to Malta in 10 days!)  

Now, I know that as a newbie, being online more CAN help a tiny bit - but honestly, as long as your gigs are interesting, people will flock to you. It's completely fine to live your life WHILE having your account open. I was busy trying to take a picture with Minnie Mouse (...couldn't in the end!) when one of my messages came in - and just waited with relying until I was back on the bus. People who are genuinely interested in your work will be fine to wait for a little for your reply... 

(I realise this is partially a bragging post and I'm very lucky to be able to travel right now. But this is why I! wanted a more laidback job in the first place. Freedom. If I had a regular job, this wouldn't have been possible for sure. So while I am certainly fortunate, I do think there's at least - some - using in 'bragging'. Taking a step back didn't do anything but help me get my inspiration back and...

eat a ton of Belgian chocolate.)

(pictures of all the food I ate while travelling are avaliable at request. Didn't wanna flod the post...)

 

Thank You @katakatica

[zahid_khan_67]

try to stay online

[rachelbostwick]

This has been my experience, too. None of my gigs are 24 hour delivery anyway, and I keep my delivery times long. Being "away" hasn't hurt my orders. I do keep my app notifications on for communication with my regulars. 

I actually turned my "online" status to off years ago and never turned it back on. 

I hope you enjoy your traveling and your chocolate.

[decoratork]

I really enjoyed your post! 
[ I feel happy when I receive messages but no one order after the latest delivery a month ago 😑 ]

I keep that you eat a .... ton 😯 of Belgian chocolate 😋

[theratypist]

8 hours ago, katakatica said:

People who are genuinely interested in your work will be fine to wait for a little for your reply... 

This is so true....... I had some buyers just recently I responded to with "Sorry for the slight delay in reply" which was close to 8 hours or so and they told me Customer Support suggested me (I think they use the Seller Matching Request query but wow! Thanks Customer Support 😂🙏) and they didn't mind the wait.

8 hours ago, katakatica said:

pictures of all the food I ate while travelling are avaliable at request.

I hope you're enjoying the whole trip! Picture of your favorite meal so far if you don't mind ! 😄 

[katakatica]

7 hours ago, zahid_khan_67 said:

try to stay online

Fine. 

Just cancelled the rest of my trip so I can stay in front of the laptop 24/7. Will that help me?

 

(... This post is literally proof you DON'T need to stay online. Live your life!)

[katakatica]

2 hours ago, theratypist said:

This is so true....... I had some buyers just recently I responded to with "Sorry for the slight delay in reply" which was close to 8 hours or so and they told me Customer Support suggested me (I think they use the Seller Matching Request query but wow! Thanks Customer Support 😂🙏) and they didn't mind the wait.

I hope you're enjoying the whole trip! Picture of your favorite meal so far if you don't mind ! 😄 

Yes! And honestly people with no patience end up being the toughest clients anyway so...

Alright so for meals... We didn't have many traditional meals (arranging breakfast and dinner for 50 people sounds HARD for our tour guide for sure!) but I had this lovely curry for lunch in Berlin. As for dessert .. I'm torn between the two I'll share down below. Didn't get to try anything fancy in Disney which was a bit of a disappointment but next time I'll do so for sure!

 

(Pancakes are from one of the more famous shops in Amsterdam, waffle from the main Street on Belgium, they also have bubble tea!)

[theratypist]

1 hour ago, katakatica said:

We didn't have many traditional meals (arranging breakfast and dinner for 50 people sounds HARD for our tour guide for sure!)

The food looks great! Looking at the pancake makes me want to whip up some for myself for breakfast. 😂

I just love how tour guides are able to manage a group of people and still do great work explaining everything (especially in these challenging times) hahaha

[katakatica]

24 minutes ago, theratypist said:

The food looks great! Looking at the pancake makes me want to whip up some for myself for breakfast. 😂

 

I'm terrrible at making them! I've tried several times but the result is never this good!
Yeah, I was surprised we pulled off most of what was on schedule - Paris weather was BAD (like, downpours ever half our bad with stormy grey skies, Disney was the same, too!) but we were fed and saw a bunch of stuff so! 

[aktershamoly]

Thanks for sharing .

[codersaeid]

try to stay online

[nahdhasan20]

Thanks..👍👍

[anwer_bijoy]

On 8/3/2021 at 1:04 AM, katakatica said:

OK, that's possibly the worst title I could have ever come up with - I was trying for something witty, but I'm too drained. 

It happened, people. 

I... had my first week as a 'digital nomad' (...fine. it was a Workaway program. but don't tell anyone!) And quite honestly, while I did have the time to write, I did NOT have the time to check the app UNLESS I was delivering or responding to messages. So instead, I was busy taking photos, eating, talking, and other fun stuff (like, waited in line at the hostel shower.) 

So... did my orders/messages stop completely? Did I have to result to BR to secure myself an OK August? Did I cry myself to sleep on the night bus to Berlin in the midst of 50 teenagers, clutching my phone and refreshing the app even in my sleep in the hope of at least a single spammer saying 'hi'?

No.

(mind me, this is with my impression DOWN at their absolute worst in the past months, not sure why just yet, but working on it.)

I had exactly the same number of people 'knock' me AND scored a few orders already with the rest in the last phase before ordering (aka, I need to send all those custom orders through).  If anything, it was even better than the week before! While I have less orders in queue than normal, they are 'bigger' (so.. I'm going to have a reaaally busy month again. Oh, and I'm going on an island adventure to Malta in 10 days!)  

Now, I know that as a newbie, being online more CAN help a tiny bit - but honestly, as long as your gigs are interesting, people will flock to you. It's completely fine to live your life WHILE having your account open. I was busy trying to take a picture with Minnie Mouse (...couldn't in the end!) when one of my messages came in - and just waited with replying until I was back on the bus. People who are genuinely interested in your work will be fine to wait for a little for your reply... 

(I realise this is partially a bragging post and I'm very lucky to be able to travel right now. But this is why I! wanted a more laidback job in the first place. Freedom. If I had a regular job, this wouldn't have been possible for sure. So while I am certainly fortunate, I do think there's at least - some - using in 'bragging'. Taking a step back didn't do anything but help me get my inspiration back and...

eat a ton of Belgian chocolate.)

(pictures of all the food I ate while travelling are avaliable at request. Didn't wanna flod the post...)

 

Thanks

[sharifhtusher]

if you stay online then you will be success one day.

[katakatica]

2 hours ago, sharifhtusher said:

if you stay online then you will be success one day.

The point of this post is the OPPOSITE. I was on HOLIDAY, visiting different countries and still got orders.

You don't need to stay online, you need talent.

[katakatica]

8 hours ago, codersaeid said:

try to stay online

No, thank you.