How to Travel Like a Boss and Ensure Utmost Productivity!
Dear friend,
The following is for Entrepreneurs, Coaches, Consultants, Writers, and Online Teachers Who Want to Travel More.
In the past 12 months, my wife Jenna and I have stayed in 60+ Hilton Hotels, which averages to approximately five visits per month (but math is not an exact science so do not quote me).
If you want to get more freedom in your business, in your life, so you can travel more and experience this wonderful world, then this article is for you.
Top Things We Have Learned while Traveling and Operating Our Online Businesses
We have fine-tuned our traveling process and our mobile lifestyle.
Let us first outline the awesome advantages of traveling while conducting business as entrepreneurs and valued based solution providers.
ADVANTAGE #1 CHALLENGES YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Traveling nearly one week every month is not easy. But, the rewards are drastic and awesome. If we didn’t have a strong desire to experience what most people dream of, then we would just stay at home where it is comfortable, safe, and familiar. So with that being said, traveling and achieving a mobile lifestyle for your business is not simple at first but it does get easier.
#2 ENSURES YOUR MINIMALISTIC/SIMPLE LIFESTYLE
Packing lite. Being efficient as possible. Occum’s razor. Traveling efficiently forces you to prioritize and keep things simple (that is the ultimate goal). I have a weird ability to overthink, overanalyze, overprepare, over-over anything. But, traveling with my wife has taught me how to trim the fat and prioritize. This is an essential exercise for business owners wanting to increase net profit by reducing unnecessary expenses. My wife is a pro at this. She is awesome at keeping things essential.
#3 ENCOURAGES ADVENTURE AND EXPLORATION
Experiencing new things. Meeting new people. Going to new restaurants, parks, entertainment and activities. Jenna and I tend to get along with people who are twice our age because of our 1) openness to collaborating and hearing from wiser people, and 2) we value adventure and exploration. Our lives are filled with excitement because we literally travel and explore like we are retired. Yet, we have our youth and resilience!
#4 HELPS FINE-TUNE DECISION MAKING
Gotta plan. Gotta act quickly. Keeping things simple is essential. In order to create an effective roadmap, you gotta act on the right things and choose to not act on the wrong things. This is just like working out a muscle group in the gym. At first the muscle is not going to be able to withstand a lot of weight, endurance, repetition, volume, etc. But over time, you can start adding more and more. Such is the same with fine-tuning decision making. It is just like a muscle and takes time but with consistency and long-term progress comes lasting results.
#5 PROMOTES COURAGE AND CONFIDENCE
Choose to experience spontaneity and go with the flow. Have you ever been to another country where English is not the primary language? It can be intimidating but liberating at the same time. In order to have a great experience in another country you gotta have courage and confidence to get out there and just give it 110% as my brother always says, LOL!
#6 UNDERSTANDING CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ESSENTIAL
The hospitality industry is heavily influenced by customer service. This can make or break an establishment. Years back we owned and operated a few offline businesses (Photobooth, Garage Repair, Event Planning, etc.) and we were known for exceptional customer service, which brought us more business through referrals, positive social networking reviews, and repeat business from our raving fans/customers. I don’t care if I am staying at the nicest Hotel in the universe. If they have horrible customer service, there is a zero chance I am heading back. Such is the same with your online business.
#7 PROMOTING EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY
Have you ever experienced in your job/business the week or few remaining days just before you go on vacation?
What usually happens? You are super productive, right?
For some reason it is easier to wrap up loose ends. Make those final calls or emails that are really important. Pay those remaining bills or just wrap up the project that has been lingering on. Jenna and I have learned this type of productivity can be done anytime not just before you leave on vacation.
And I highly attribute the experience to the following:
- Being prepared
- Prioritizing thought and action
- Getting clear on vision
- Focusing on essentials
- Shifting to minimal/simple
- Letting go sooner opposed to later
- Seeking advice from mentors
- Reflecting on what didn’t work
- Having a plan/roadmap
- Practice. Practice. Practice.
- Traveling, Appreciation, Empathy, and Gratitude
The hospitality industry is a service based category primarily focused on the endgame of making customers/guests happy. When I had my web development marketing business, we worked with a lot of restaurants. I got to peek inside behind the scenes and see how the operations and management carried out their expectations.
Being appreciative and grateful for quality service goes a really long way. People who work in this industry usually do not make a lot of money, are overworked, and experience a lot of job related stress from ungrateful, unappreciative clients.
I can’t tell you how many times we have gotten perks from the staff and management just because we are overly friendly, nice and appreciative.
Trust me on this. Go out of your way to extend your gratitude and appreciation. It will undoubtedly circle back to you!
——-
I have been self-employed creating internet businesses since 2004. I have become the slave to my businesses many times, which leads to burnout and usually depression.
And I have discovered the following three things to be the most important areas to focus on if you want to achieve a virtual business where you can travel, automate your income, and create a lifestyle of your dreams.
THE TOP THREE THINGS
- YOU and Your Mindset
- Your Systems
- Your Results
I will cover all three topics below in greater detail. It has taken me many, many years and thousands of dollars to understand and deduct this down.
1) YOU AND YOUR MINDSET. YOUR PERSPECTIVE. YOUR VISION.
Your mindset is your perspective, which creates your vision. When you have a vision that is aligned with being virtual, with being exceptional, with delivering results in an automated fashion, the roadmap becomes clear.
The challenge with mindset is it is attached to belief systems that are difficult to bend. When you can transition into believing it is possible to move into a space of service for others, while achieving your dream lifestyle, the blueprint becomes real.
All you need to do is believe it to be an inevitability. A “must-have” path.
A lot of people do not have a deep enough vision for themselves and for their business. I know this because I served others for years and years (over ten years) and I didn’t have a vision for myself. I was also stuck in the low-ticket mentality and attracted low-ticket soul sucking clients!
It brought me into depression and I became a slave to my clients and my business. Not good.
Thus, I was playing the reactive game of serving others on their terms not mine.
Things started to change when I realized I wanted to travel more while generating income. I didn’t want to take one vacation a year while my income stopped.
I wanted to make money while I slept and was on the road in the air going to the next cool place. But, I still wanted to help and serve people at my highest.
I had to create a vision for myself! Thus proactive planning and creating systems that got me out of the equation!
2) YOUR SYSTEMS: YOUR AUTOMATION. YOUR METHODOLOGY.
We live in an awesome time right now where we can use technology to effectively communicate and deliver value at wrap speeds. It comes down to this.
a) Are you using technology to deliver value and results for people?
b) How effectively are you communicating to your prospects, clients, and community?
c) Are you creating systems that replace your direct involvement?
Here are some tips and topics you can use to implement in your business right now to supercharge efficiency and free your time:
Phone Systems
- use automated inbound phone systems
- Skype, google voice, grass hopper
- voicemail to email conversion
- email to fax functionality
- VOIP phone lines via wifi
- conference calling services
Customer Service Systems
- wufoo form routing for proper customer questions (tech, billing, content)
- videos of FAQs for common questions
- ticket based inbound management
- chat support from your website
- delegate support to virtual assistants 24/7
- survey your current clients to serve them better
Value, Results, Deliverable Systems
- membership programs to manage clients and their expectations
- online video courses to deliver your training
- group conference calling for live Q and A’s
- group webinar training recorded and uploaded to video hosting
- email autoresponders and list segments for effective communication
- CRM and customer behavioral management (have they bought yet? if no, email followup)
The list goes on and on.
Over the years I have fine-tuned my list of effective strategies, resources, and methods of automating tasks, results, and deliverables for clients.
I could write in depth articles based on each of these topics. It doesn’t stop!
Here is the coolest part.
New technology and services are constantly coming out. Good news.
More good news. As internet entrepreneurs, if a solution doesn’t exist to help the efficiency of your business so you may serve your clients at your highest, then you can create it!
The power of the entrepreneurial spirit is to create new things for the purpose of being relevant, valuable, and effective.
3) YOUR RESULTS: YOUR DELIVERABLES. YOUR VALUE.
Along with the technology to deliver your value in a really efficient, cool way, you gotta make sure you provide exceptional, transformative value to the right people.
This part took me forever to figure out.
Most people have this backwards. The secret is this. You must know exactly what your client is struggling with.
You must know their pain. What is keeping them up at night.
What is your client needing in their present moment of NOW. Your solution must alleviate their pain NOW and provide an exceptional experience of how their future will be better.
This is advanced problem solving.
After you figure out how to package your transformational value for your clients, then you simply put it into effective systems of communication, then funnel in your prospects.
You must find out the preferred method of delivery for your clients.
Sample ways to deliver results for your clients while traveling:
- book format training such as eBook PDF
- video format organized in categories, milestones, modules, etc.
- live webinar training with screen sharing
- live Q and A calls through group conferencing
- done for them service where you create things for them (and outsource it)
- one-on-one interaction and collaboration through phone, email, chat, etc.
- straight up email communication such as copywriting, book writing, etc.
You gotta think outside the office walls and believe you can provide exceptional value that is not dependent on an office.
You can get cell phone reception almost anywhere these days.
You can use wifi and mobile hotspots in a lot of places.
Hotels, airports, coffee shops, heck even McDonalds has awesome wifi.
HERE IS WHAT IT REALLY COMES DOWN TO…
Are you willing to implement change? Are you willing to move into releasing and prioritizing your focus?
If you are, then you can create a virtual, mobile lifestyle of traveling WHILE providing transformational value for your clients. You gotta just think outside the box.
This is just scratching the surface. I hope you found value in this. The ball is in your court. It’s time to implement!
See you on the beach!
– Andy