Before I ended my #ontheroadtofulltime journey, I remember looking at women in the industry who were constantly traveling all over the country and thinking: I want to be JUST like that!!!! I loved that being an entrepreneur could bring along opportunities that allowed me to travel to new places, meeting incredible people and truly LIVE my dream whenever and wherever I wanted!!!
The last few months have been PACKED with traveling … so much so that there have been times where I have MISSED the time when traveling was non-existent in my business!!
The truth behind the pretty? I’m currently writing this post at 12:43am on an air mattress in an AirBnB. THAT’S small business ownership, friends!!! That’s being Blog Editor, Financial Advisor, Social Media Strategist & Inbox Wizard!!! We are doing SO MUCH for our business & serving so many roles!!! Sometimes traveling for our business can be overwhelming because our routine is uprooted, and our consistency is thrown off. Because of that, I want to share 5 quick tips for running a business while traveling:
1) Manage CLIENT Expectations! Turn on your auto-responder so clients understand that your response time will vary!! I don’t want them thinking I will respond sooner than I actually can, therefore I am really up front about my out of office or lack of email availability! You can also try not to schedule a large project while on business travel since your work day/week looks so much different (and unexpected!)! It’s hard enough to keep up with “every day” to-dos, let alone a large launch or project too!!!
2) Manage YOUR Expectations! I’m currently in a season of “hustle” for my busiensss (anyone else?!). This means that for most of my business traveling, I am not able to “check out”. I need to be present IN my business while away and still be able to tackle things on my to-do list. I have to manage my OWN expectations a few ways: understanding that I will have to work REALLY strange hours in order to get things done (hence the air mattress blog post writing!) AND I need to allow myself GRACE for the things that will ultimately fall through the cracks do to being away.
3) Pre-schedule as much as possible!!! 3 words: Planogram & Pre-blogging!!! When I am traveling for business it’s usually a conference or event, and that means I’m constantly meeting new people & having wonderful conversations. I want to be as INTENTIONAL with that time as possible & that means (a) strange work hours and (b) not staring at my phone all day!! I want to be as present in the moment as I can, so prescheduling social posts for my business is key!!
4) Once your trip is done, schedule 1 day at home with NOTHING on your calendar. I’ve found that when I am coming from a trip, I need time AT home (shocker, right?!)! This means I need to be intentional with my calendar by allowing myself an day at home when I return with NO pre-scheduled meetings (in person or virtual). This allows me to have a full day “in the office” dedicating to catching up with my work load … and selfishly allows me a lazy day for yoga pants, big sweatshirts & messy buns! I truly look forward to these days when I’m coming home from a trip!!!
5) Dry Shampoo, Eye-drops & your Swell bottle. These are my absolute essentials when traveling for business because all three hide the fact that my strange work hours mean late nights, early mornings, little sleep, the possibility of no shower & red/tired eyes! Staying hydrated, spraying on that dry shampoo & giving my eyes the moisture they need are my three packing essentials for business travel!!!
What about you?! What helps you when you are traveling AND running your own small business??
xo! kat
Charleston photo by Hope Taylor Photography
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