Remote work in the eye of the storm: Hurricane preparedness for freelancers

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash

My heart goes out to my Caribbean family affected by Hurricane Beryl.

I was born and raised in the tropics and can relate to this scary situation. When Beryl landed, I was scared, anxious and jumpy. By 11 a.m., my family lost power, and the telecommunications networks were down starting early afternoon.

My brain was racing, so I followed any live YouTube coverage I could find all day and kept the tab open on my second screen at the office. One by one, my colleagues saw what was happening and enquired about my family in Jamaica.

I put on a brave face and explained what was happening. Little did they know that behind the facade, I was going crazy knowing that a life-threatening hurricane was attacking my home.

Only God knows how I got through the day. Maybe, it was the funny videos I came across on #JamaicanTikTok. FYI, my people do not take anything seriously, and they had fun during Beryl's lull moments — playing dominoes in the streets and making up songs about the weather.

The next afternoon, I heard from my family, and it was a relief. They were safe, and the house was okay, but my mom was disappointed she lost her coconut tree (lol). All was well, and the authorities for "the biggest little dot in the world" were busy getting things back to normal.

Natural disasters are inevitable and there is no telling what the aftermath will be like. Corporate workers are fortunate that companies understand this because they are in the thick of it and see firsthand what is happening.

However, it is more challenging for some of my remote-working friends.

Hurricane season is not over yet it ends November 30, and I encourage you to activate the action plan I outline below immediately:

• Invest in portable chargers for your phones and laptops and keep them charged.

• Set money aside for prepaid data plans, or if you have postpaid plans, upgrade them to accommodate additional data usage.

• Stock up on canned food, water, candles, lamps, and flashlights.

• Get laundry out of the way. The last thing you need to be doing is major washing with water you have stored for necessities such as cooking and showering.

• Protect your homes! Have blocks or sandbags on standby to put on the roof and boards to cover your glass windows.

• Turn on your out-of-office notifications, and yes, even on platforms like Fiverr. The worst thing that could happen to freelancers on Fiverr is for orders and messages to come in without any access to you, and this can affect profile statistics.

• Communicate with your clients. The minute you become aware of a hurricane coming your way, tell them you might be incommunicado the day of the hurricane and a few days after it as well. Our clients live worldwide, and some have never experienced a hurricane, so give them all the details. Explain it will take time to restore power because relevant companies need to safely clear landslides and giant trees, repair the power lines and turn on the electricity.

• For fun, blow the dust off your books and board games. You will need entertainment.

• Do not underestimate a hurricane, even if it is category one. Make all your necessary preparations.

If you want to help countries affected by Beryl, below are some websites you can donate to. You can also donate to local organizations in the respective countries.

Jamaica

American Friends of Jamaica

Office of Disaster Preparedness Management

United Way Jamaica

Caribbean-wide

Airlink

Global Empowerment Mission

Sandals Resorts Foundation

World Central Kitchen

This blog is a mini outlet for my ramblings about my experience as a 9-to-5er by day and hustler by night. I pen my thoughts with the hopes that others will feel encouraged and find some useful tidbits here and there. I do not claim to know it all because I am not perfect, so please share your feedback.

Do you have questions or a topic that you want me to write about? Send me an email!