This article appeared in The Guardian newspaper on 25 November 2005. Click here to read it as published.
When I left Britain I'm sure many of the people I worked for expected me to miss deadlines as I succumbed to the attractions of party island Ibiza. I hoped for a little more in the way of sun, sea and siestas, but without the missed deadlines.
To achieve my aim I thought all I needed to do was work a little more efficiently and reduce my reliance on the almost infinite number of displacement activities offered by an internet-connected computer. There'd always be another website to be checked. What if something really important was happening in the world? Ping. There's another email. It could be vital.
But in order to earn a living in Spain I still need my broadband, so none of those distractions have disappeared. Now I feel guilty, not just about putting off work, but putting off pleasure as well.
My personal productivity is challenged in other ways. There's a totally different rhythm of life here. The US-led "live to work" mentality hasn't got the grip it has in Britain. Work here remains a means to an end. It doesn't even define who you are in the same way as it does in the UK.
At the same time working life isn't organised solely for the benefit of the customer. Most shops, including garden centres and hardware stores, don't open on Sunday. Many are closed on Saturdays as well. And forget trying to do anything during the afternoon siesta. Even after you've been here a while this lack of customer focus can catch you by surprise.
This attitude is contagious which doesn't necessarily go down too well if, like me, you do most of your work for UK businesses. Everybody's supposed to be in favour of an improved work-life balance. In theory.
In practice, most of my British paymasters seem to think I'm on holiday all the time anyway. The fact that I always meet my deadlines does nothing to diminish this belief. And that is all the more frustrating because it's actually quite difficult to take a holiday. Every time I've left the island it's been for a hectic round of business meetings interspersed with the odd family visit and wedding. I wouldn't get much sympathy if I took a break away from them and Ibiza.
An added difficulty is the distinctly two-tone nature of the Ibizan year. From November to April there are no flights at all to anywhere outside Spain. Getting back to Scotland, where many of my clients are based, is an expensive, multi-hour nightmare. It's often quicker and cheaper getting from there to the States or Australia. The advantage is that this gives you half the year free of visitors to get on with your work undisturbed. You hope.
But the winter is also the time when you see your local friends. The chances are, along with 80% of the population, they'll be directly reliant on tourism for their income and a season which peaks for a few short weeks around August. Some make enough to head for Thailand, Goa or Brazil. The rest eke out the chilly winter nights with cheap red wine and home-grown herbs. There's no work, but it's still a sociable time.
Summer or winter, though, one unexpected bonus has saved my working life on numerous occasions. There's a one-hour time difference which means that if I stagger down the hall from my bedroom to my computer at 11am it's still the mildly more respectable 10am in the UK. An extra hour on a deadline or for sleep is just enough for that little bit of depravity on the side.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Friday, October 28, 2005
A desk in the sun
This is the second of my Ibiza columns for The Guardian newspaper. Its title has changed from the misleading 'Homeworker' to 'A Desk in the Sun' which sums up the column much better. Unlike the first column which was cut from 700 words to 500 words, this one appears pretty much untouched.
You can read it on the Guardian website by clicking here.
How to be in two places at the same time
Last year I had a cunning communications plan which I hoped would make it look as if I was in Britain while I was really in Ibiza. It was simple. I'd leave a phone line in Edinburgh on permanent divert to my home in the sun. After all, few people actually saw me in the course of work. I was just a disembodied voice on the phone, or words in an email.
Despite my already virtual work existence I was concerned that moving a few thousand miles away would be a psychological barrier for the people who pay for my services. Setting up a diversion wouldn't be expensive, just line rental and, at most, 4p a minute for calls transferred to Spain. Using a cheap "carrier pre select" (CPS) service meant I wouldn't even have to pay BT's international rates.
Of course, nothing's simple. For a start, BT's diversions have to be set up from the home phone, but I didn't know what my Spanish number was going to be. And, by the time I had a line set up, my Edinburgh flat was being let out in order to pay the rent in Ibiza.
Then, once the diversion was apparently working properly, I couldn't understand why the phone would ring once and stop. It turned out business contacts were fooled by the Spanish ring tone's similarity to the British engaged tone. When I did manage to grab the phone before the caller hung up, there would be complaints about a disconcerting echo on the line. I quickly gave up pretending to be in the UK, but, much to my surprise, being by the Mediterranean often worked in my favour. I was living the dream of many of my business contacts and they seemed to enjoy having somebody to moan to about the weather. Suddenly I also went from being a techie hack to being somebody vaguely exotic.
My new location was even partly responsible for getting me one job, as web editor for the August Club, an online organisation for retired and soon-to-retire professionals. There I was, a practical demonstration of how you can earn a living in the sun as a consultant, without even the cushion of the pension enjoyed by most of the club's members.
But actually, even within the space of a few months, technology has advanced to the point where nobody needs to know where in the world I am when they phone me. That's the wonder of internet telephony.
I've been a Skype enthusiast almost since it launched, a whole two years ago. Computer to computer calls over broadband are generally of a much higher quality than ordinary phone calls. They're also free. That makes Skype great for keeping in touch and the August Club runs on its conference-call facility. But, even though you can now make and receive Skype calls to or from a landline, you still have to keep a computer switched on. And a headset remains the best way to use Skype.
Now, I don't mind that call centre look. But really what I want is a substitute phone service and Vonage is the best I've found so far. It comes with a box which hooks up to your broadband router, then you plug in an ordinary phone. That's it. Because I bought it in Britain it behaves as if that's where I am. I have an Edinburgh number and a subscription which allows me to make unlimited calls to UK landlines for less than £10 a month.
To all intents and purposes I have now created a situation where I live in Ibiza and work in Scotland. Yesterday I interviewed two venture capitalists, one apparently in Edinburgh, the other in Aberdeen. In fact they were both in London. It was only after the inevitable ice-breaking conversation about the weather that we all admitted that phone diversions meant we weren't where we seemed to be. The difference was they were in city offices with the prospect of either an impersonal hotel room or hours of trains, planes and automobiles. I was already where I wanted to be.
You can read it on the Guardian website by clicking here.
How to be in two places at the same time
Last year I had a cunning communications plan which I hoped would make it look as if I was in Britain while I was really in Ibiza. It was simple. I'd leave a phone line in Edinburgh on permanent divert to my home in the sun. After all, few people actually saw me in the course of work. I was just a disembodied voice on the phone, or words in an email.
Despite my already virtual work existence I was concerned that moving a few thousand miles away would be a psychological barrier for the people who pay for my services. Setting up a diversion wouldn't be expensive, just line rental and, at most, 4p a minute for calls transferred to Spain. Using a cheap "carrier pre select" (CPS) service meant I wouldn't even have to pay BT's international rates.
Of course, nothing's simple. For a start, BT's diversions have to be set up from the home phone, but I didn't know what my Spanish number was going to be. And, by the time I had a line set up, my Edinburgh flat was being let out in order to pay the rent in Ibiza.
Then, once the diversion was apparently working properly, I couldn't understand why the phone would ring once and stop. It turned out business contacts were fooled by the Spanish ring tone's similarity to the British engaged tone. When I did manage to grab the phone before the caller hung up, there would be complaints about a disconcerting echo on the line. I quickly gave up pretending to be in the UK, but, much to my surprise, being by the Mediterranean often worked in my favour. I was living the dream of many of my business contacts and they seemed to enjoy having somebody to moan to about the weather. Suddenly I also went from being a techie hack to being somebody vaguely exotic.
My new location was even partly responsible for getting me one job, as web editor for the August Club, an online organisation for retired and soon-to-retire professionals. There I was, a practical demonstration of how you can earn a living in the sun as a consultant, without even the cushion of the pension enjoyed by most of the club's members.
But actually, even within the space of a few months, technology has advanced to the point where nobody needs to know where in the world I am when they phone me. That's the wonder of internet telephony.
I've been a Skype enthusiast almost since it launched, a whole two years ago. Computer to computer calls over broadband are generally of a much higher quality than ordinary phone calls. They're also free. That makes Skype great for keeping in touch and the August Club runs on its conference-call facility. But, even though you can now make and receive Skype calls to or from a landline, you still have to keep a computer switched on. And a headset remains the best way to use Skype.
Now, I don't mind that call centre look. But really what I want is a substitute phone service and Vonage is the best I've found so far. It comes with a box which hooks up to your broadband router, then you plug in an ordinary phone. That's it. Because I bought it in Britain it behaves as if that's where I am. I have an Edinburgh number and a subscription which allows me to make unlimited calls to UK landlines for less than £10 a month.
To all intents and purposes I have now created a situation where I live in Ibiza and work in Scotland. Yesterday I interviewed two venture capitalists, one apparently in Edinburgh, the other in Aberdeen. In fact they were both in London. It was only after the inevitable ice-breaking conversation about the weather that we all admitted that phone diversions meant we weren't where we seemed to be. The difference was they were in city offices with the prospect of either an impersonal hotel room or hours of trains, planes and automobiles. I was already where I wanted to be.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
The first of my monthly Guardian columns
Here's the uncut version of my introductory column about living in Ibiza while working in the UK. In order to make an advertisement fit, it was cut from 700 words to 500 words. This often happens in newspapers and I've butchered many a journalist's copy, but it's still frustrating.
Actually I was more fed up at the headline: 'Wherever I lay my Mac, that's my home'. I'm strictly PC these days having used Apple Macs when I worked in an office.
You can read edited article as it appeared in The Guardian if you click here. Or you can read it in full below...
Many people who’ve worked from home will recognise the picture. And it isn’t pretty. I’m sitting in front of my computer in my dressing gown, unshaven. The clock shows it’s 4pm, but doesn’t reveal that I haven’t set foot outside for three days. That’s because I had no need to venture onto Edinburgh’s cold, wet November streets. My work, and most of my life, was reduced to a screen, 19 inches corner to corner, and a telephone.
It was actually a couple of days later in the chilly sunshine that something clicked. I really didn’t need to be here. If most of the human contact necessary to earn a living could be made via phone and internet, I could be anywhere.
So I started to formulate a plan. There was nothing to stop my wife Barbara and I taking off to Ibiza for a year, celebrating my 50th birthday along the way. We had a small inheritance after my father died which, as long as I continued to earn something, would tide us over. We could put most of our belongings into my “home-office” and let our flat out as a two-bedroom which would, hopefully, cover most of the rent for a place in the sun.
Barbara wasn’t totally convinced. But I persuaded her Ibiza’s climate would be good for her rheumatoid arthritis and enable her to sell the jewellery she makes. So we wiled away the winter hours looking on the internet for somewhere to rent. Eventually it became clear we weren’t going to find anything and I’d have to spend a few days actually on the island. That’s when the first flaws in my plan became apparent.
Property seemed to be divided into two types. There were places which looked idyllic in summer when indoors was just for sleeping. In the spring drizzle, however, they felt barren and isolated. Alternatively there were apartments built for locals with tiny balconies barely large enough for a coffee table and two chairs. Watching sunshine through the window wasn’t the dream.
After four hectic days I found the ideal spot. It was modern and owned by a British architect and his wife. Okay, his work designing car showrooms did show a little in the décor, but it was a spacious compromise between local and holidaymaker’s tastes. It also managed to be quiet despite being two minutes from the beach and ten minutes from the island’s capital Ibiza Town. Getting a phone line and ADSL was also supposed to be easy, but that’s another story.
Feeling extremely pleased with myself I headed back to Edinburgh. The 25 hours it took gave me ample opportunity to think about whether it was really such a good idea to try and work from a small island with no direct flights outside Spain throughout the winter.
But, over a year later we’re still here. It’s four in the afternoon, I’m still unshaven, but it’s too warm for me to wear my dressing gown. As much by accident as by design I’ve ended up as a global telecommuter earning my income in the UK, but living by the Mediterranean. I edit the August Club’s website which is aimed at people retiring from business and the professions, write regularly for a number of publications and act as a confidential consultant on website content for several large private and public-sector organisations.
It’s all work that can be done anywhere there’s access to an internet connection. Even in the year I’ve been away, advances in technology, particularly internet telephony, keep making it easier to enjoy this way of working. I’m certainly not alone.
That doesn’t make it straightforward. Dealing in a foreign language with tax, bureaucracies which appear unreconstructed since Franco’s day and a postal service that doesn’t recognise your existence can reduce you almost to tears.
But I’ve learned a lot about working abroad in the UK over the last year or so. I’m sure now Ibiza is not the rational choice, but if you can make it here you can make it anywhere. Hopefully, over the coming months through this column I’ll show you how.
Actually I was more fed up at the headline: 'Wherever I lay my Mac, that's my home'. I'm strictly PC these days having used Apple Macs when I worked in an office.
You can read edited article as it appeared in The Guardian if you click here. Or you can read it in full below...
Many people who’ve worked from home will recognise the picture. And it isn’t pretty. I’m sitting in front of my computer in my dressing gown, unshaven. The clock shows it’s 4pm, but doesn’t reveal that I haven’t set foot outside for three days. That’s because I had no need to venture onto Edinburgh’s cold, wet November streets. My work, and most of my life, was reduced to a screen, 19 inches corner to corner, and a telephone.
It was actually a couple of days later in the chilly sunshine that something clicked. I really didn’t need to be here. If most of the human contact necessary to earn a living could be made via phone and internet, I could be anywhere.
So I started to formulate a plan. There was nothing to stop my wife Barbara and I taking off to Ibiza for a year, celebrating my 50th birthday along the way. We had a small inheritance after my father died which, as long as I continued to earn something, would tide us over. We could put most of our belongings into my “home-office” and let our flat out as a two-bedroom which would, hopefully, cover most of the rent for a place in the sun.
Barbara wasn’t totally convinced. But I persuaded her Ibiza’s climate would be good for her rheumatoid arthritis and enable her to sell the jewellery she makes. So we wiled away the winter hours looking on the internet for somewhere to rent. Eventually it became clear we weren’t going to find anything and I’d have to spend a few days actually on the island. That’s when the first flaws in my plan became apparent.
Property seemed to be divided into two types. There were places which looked idyllic in summer when indoors was just for sleeping. In the spring drizzle, however, they felt barren and isolated. Alternatively there were apartments built for locals with tiny balconies barely large enough for a coffee table and two chairs. Watching sunshine through the window wasn’t the dream.
After four hectic days I found the ideal spot. It was modern and owned by a British architect and his wife. Okay, his work designing car showrooms did show a little in the décor, but it was a spacious compromise between local and holidaymaker’s tastes. It also managed to be quiet despite being two minutes from the beach and ten minutes from the island’s capital Ibiza Town. Getting a phone line and ADSL was also supposed to be easy, but that’s another story.
Feeling extremely pleased with myself I headed back to Edinburgh. The 25 hours it took gave me ample opportunity to think about whether it was really such a good idea to try and work from a small island with no direct flights outside Spain throughout the winter.
But, over a year later we’re still here. It’s four in the afternoon, I’m still unshaven, but it’s too warm for me to wear my dressing gown. As much by accident as by design I’ve ended up as a global telecommuter earning my income in the UK, but living by the Mediterranean. I edit the August Club’s website which is aimed at people retiring from business and the professions, write regularly for a number of publications and act as a confidential consultant on website content for several large private and public-sector organisations.
It’s all work that can be done anywhere there’s access to an internet connection. Even in the year I’ve been away, advances in technology, particularly internet telephony, keep making it easier to enjoy this way of working. I’m certainly not alone.
That doesn’t make it straightforward. Dealing in a foreign language with tax, bureaucracies which appear unreconstructed since Franco’s day and a postal service that doesn’t recognise your existence can reduce you almost to tears.
But I’ve learned a lot about working abroad in the UK over the last year or so. I’m sure now Ibiza is not the rational choice, but if you can make it here you can make it anywhere. Hopefully, over the coming months through this column I’ll show you how.
- Nick Clayton is a freelance writer, editor of the August Club website and a web content consultant.
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