A former lawyer who’s been running a business remotely for 8 years shares her favorite tools for working on the road

Jodi Ettenberg

Jodi Ettenberg.

Working on the road is not easy.

Spotty wifi, noisy cafes, and constantly changing time zones are all par for the course. 

But these stumbling blocks haven’t stopped Jodi Ettenberg, a former corporate lawyer who left the legal profession to travel in 2008, from working while roaming from continent to continent. 

Ettenberg sustains her travel through multiple income streams, including sales from her online store, freelance writing, social media consulting, and, more recently, speaking engagements at summits and conferences around the world.

Business Insider recently spoke with Ettenberg, who shared the tools that keep her productive and functioning on the road.

Project management 

Ettenberg uses Trello to manage both her personal and work to-dos. 

Trello is a web board where you can pin “cards” with different categories. Under each category, you can create to-do lists, deadlines, discussion notes, and more. The format is similar to sticky notes, and you can share each individual card with anyone you want to.

She writes on her blog, Legal Nomads, that she has both personal and work boards on Trello. She shares her work boards with team members who are part of that particular project and manages her workflow using the Getting Things Done (GTD) system by David Allen.

Note-taking and curating 

Ettenberg is a big fan of Pocket, which she says she uses “for everything.” 

Pocket allows you to save articles or videos that you want to read or watch later, even if you don’t have an internet connection. You can tag articles to categorize them and to help you search for them later.

For example, Ettenberg has tags for each country that she plans to visit.

Laptop stand

Ettenberg uses the Roost laptop stand to bring her screen to eye level.

Ettenberg, in a Facebook post, explained that the Roost stand has helped diminish the back pain she often experiences when she types.

Budgeting and invoicing

Ettenberg sticks to Excel to manage her finances, dividing her expenses between work and personal. 

Being constantly on the move means that Ettenberg’s living costs vary. “I don’t budget in a way that people with a normal life do,” she says.

Certain expenses that most people would consider “fixed,” such as rent, transportation, and utilities, can change depending on where she is based at the time. As a result, it’s crucial that Ettenberg keeps careful track of her cash flow.

Photo storage 

Ettenberg backs up her photos on SmugMug, a site that also allows you to share and sell images online. 

Backups

As a travel writer, having a good data backup system is essential.

Ettenberg started using Mozy, a cloud backup service, after her laptop and hard drive were stolen.

One tool she doesn’t use 

Ettenberg doesn’t use a productivity app.

“I think they’re so silly,” she tells Business Insider. “I don’t use them because they don’t solve the problems.” 

If a person has an issue with constantly being on Facebook, for example, downloading a productivity app isn’t going to solve his or her tendency to be distracted, she says.

Read more stories on Business Insider, Malaysian edition of the world’s fastest-growing business and technology news website.