Digital Nomad Tip - Run Your Business If Your Tech Gets Stolen On The Road

As an entrepreneur, you need to be prepared for the worst.

and one sunny day in Mexico City - it happened to me.

My backpack was stolen from right in front of me outside a Condesa coffeeshop, and inside - my MSI laptop, my passport, vaccine card, a few hundred in cash, my podcast microphone and more.

A few tacos and a few hours later, I was up and running again.

So here's what I set up before my trip to make sure that I would be functional even if my tech was stolen.

1. Set up a virtual desktop

Virtual desktops have come a long way since I started using them. Just a few years ago, the lag was unbearable and the cost was unreasonable. Now, it's just as fluid as using your own computer. The key benefit, is you can log in from any computer in the world and maintain a safe connection. A virtual desktop can never be stolen or lost on the road.

Here are a few I recommend:

AWS Workspaces - easy to set up and deploy, insanely fast, but I wouldn't recommend running your amazon account on it. Shadow: https://shadow.tech/ - your gaming PC in the cloud, perfect for playing games if you're a mac user as well.

a new hybrid solution - mightyapp.com is also interesting.

After you set up the virtual desktop - record the login details somewhere on the cloud where you can access them if something happens to your laptop.

2. Set up "Find my laptop" on windows, mac, and your phone

I didn't know that windows had this functionality - but you can turn on the ability to find or lock any windows device. It's not any use if your laptop is stolen before you turn it on though, so make sure to activate it.

3. Use a password manager

Setting up a new device and logging into everything again is incredibly annoying. Use a password manager like LastPass and make sure you have the login credentials memorized.

4. Keep an authenticator app and skype number on the virtual desktop.

Keep your 2 factor auth apps and phone numbers on the virtual desktop, if your phone gets stolen or you lose it, you won't lose your access to important apps that require 2 factor. I recommend logging into important banking apps, social media, and amazon from your virtual desktop while you still have your phone so you can access them quickly.

5. Use iDrive or another cloud backup service

iDrive is the cloud backup software I use, but there are dozens out there, they crawl your computer daily and make a backup in the cloud - this was key to recover most of my important files when my laptop was stolen.

6. Gradually move to the cloud.

It's 2022, why keep anything on your computer at all? I've moved almost 100% to cloud services and keep almost nothing on my laptop, I've found a new level of peace of mind, so create a plan to slowly move over.