Once again there’s been a mini hiatus around here (and on my personal blog, Twitter and everywhere else online). For a slightly fuller explanation, read what I wrote on my personal blog last week.

But if you can’t be bothered to hop on over there (there’s quite a nice picture there too), keep reading…

That’s right, we’re having a baby!

It wasn’t exactly in the plans (especially if you recall a post I wrote just 3 months ago on the subject) but now we’re getting used to the idea, it’s kind of exciting – and of course, will provide all sorts of new and challenging things to write about on the topic of living the location independent lifestyle.

I won’t go into the nuts & bolts of what happened (and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t think we’d just been careless if I did!) but suffice to say, we’ve learned a few things already in the process which, with hindsight being a wonderful thing, we’d do differently next time round.

And before you think, “hey, I’m a man I can’t get pregnant”, the lessons are applicable to many situations, not just this one ;)

Hindsight truly is a wonderful thing. The moral of this story: change health insurance providers only if you really, really have to. Literally a month or so before we found out I was pregnant, we changed our worldwide private medical insurance provider. It wasn’t a decision we took lightly so you can imagine how gutted I am that maternity care isn’t provided until we’ve been with the new provider for at least 10 months.

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If you are anything like us, you’ve probably got a mental list of things that you know you need to sort out and get in order sooner rather than later. This may include things like sorting out your global health insurance, or getting your finances in order, or starting a few business projects you’ve been delaying but you know will be worthwhile.

My advice? Get stuck into that list of things NOW that you know you need to do but never quite get round to it. The day is likely to come when you kick yourself for not having done so already.

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Learning from our mistakes of the first year of being location independent, we have kept most of our travel, flight and accommodation plans a lot more flexible this year.

It’s a fine balance between flexibility and cost, but unknown and unplanned events can end up being way more costly to set travel plans, than if you keep your travel bookings and reservations as flexible as possible, for as long as possible.

Up until 3 months ago, we were all set to go to Goa – we were about to put down a deposit on an apartment, almost had the flights booked but something told me to wait a while. Good job we did!

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Pregnancy is one of those things you never appreciate (if that’s the right word!!), until you’re pregnant. No-one really tells you how exhausted, queasy and off your game you might feel, nor for how long you’ll feel like this. Can your business afford for you to step away from it for 3 months plus?

That’s essentially how long I’ve not really been “working” in nor on our business; longer if you include the horror time I spent consulting for another company for the few months before that.

Along with that list of things you know you need to do but never quite get round to them, sorting out your business in such a way that it can survive with minimal input from you is crucial. This could mean sourcing suppliers, freelancers, employees or others who can step in when needed or it could mean automating as much of your business as possible.

And even if you never need to be away for health or other reasons, surely you can think of plenty of other things you could be be spending your time doing if you’re not working?

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The final lesson that has really hit home recently is the vital importance of passive income streams; this is something I’ve been wanting to focus on more and more (yes, one of those things on my list!) and will be my main focus for 2009.

Fortunately there are two of us to run our business, but if it were just me, I’d have struggled to keep things going whilst simultaneously retching over the toilet and feeling completely lifeless 90% of the time.

If there aren’t two of you, then this point is even more crucial. A range of income streams, some passive, give you the security and peace of mind to know that even if one dries up, for whatever reason, you still have an income coming into your bank.

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Whilst I’m sure none of these things are new lessons to you, nor to us really, it doesn’t hurt to get a friendly reminder every now and then, does it?

Both Jonathan and I wish you a very, very Happy Christmas and we hope to see some of you around the globe in 2009 :)

Image Credits: i am brad, Studio H (Chris), boskizzi

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