business travel Archives

Growing a Company? This is Why Entrepreneurs Should Travel More

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Josh

You did it! You finally left the corporate world, school or your old job to start out on your own.

You’ve hustled, spent long hours and lots of money and time on learning new things and growing your business. It is all a labor of love (we hope) and worth it to be doing what you love and calling the shots. No more boss to report too, no more unsatisfied or passionless days spent dreaming of your ‘one day’. No, because you are an entrepreneur.

Whether you’ve just started out on your own or have been doing it for decades, you started for a purpose. You started a company for more freedom, autonomy and to do something you truly believe it. So why are so many entrepreneurs burnt out?!

Overworked, too much coffee, too little sleep – entrepreneur life is often seen as less than glamorous. Yet so many people want to become them! In search of the hustle, that high from seeing something you’ve poured your heart into take off. But at the same time, the work and hours you put in are just plain crazy.

Oftentimes, people become entrepreneurs to give themselves more freedom. You seldom do that though, never taking advantage of the flexibility of running a company and determining your own schedule.

We’ve felt it ourselves and learned a thing or two from our teams 20+ years in entrepreneurship. We’ve also learned the incredible importance of travel for entrepreneurs. So we shared why it’s important to prioritize travel, no matter how busy you are, to help you grow and learn.

1) Meet New People

Growing your network is one of the most important thing you can do throughout your career. When you travel you meet incredible people that you otherwise never would have. Our cofounders met while traveling in Southeast Asia and without their individual desires to explore the world, Behere would never exist. We’ve also had a number of our members meet life long friends, business and life partners while traveling.

2) Learn New Things

Through meeting new people and experiencing new places you will learn incredibly valuable life, and business, skills. Whether you take a new course abroad, end up in a workshop taught by someone super interesting or just ask a question to someone you meet, you will learn something new. Some trips might by about learning to surf, others could be about refining your people skills and others, teach you how to juggle your team from a new time zone.

3) Communicate Better

Travel tests your communication skills, and patience, often. You have to learn to slow down, juggle learning and conversing in new languages and share your language with others. You can also fine tune your negotiation skills by bartering with street vendors. Wherever you go, travel will help with your communication and people skills.

4) Gain a Global Understanding

If scaling your company to new countries is something you want to do, having a better sense of the world is key. By going to new countries, you experience their way of life and customs, learn about their needs and determine if your product/service could help there. Plus, you learn about new problems and might come up with unique solutions for them.

5) Connect with Remote Team Members

In todays day and age, many companies are remote. With that, many teams have never met face to face. If you employ any remote employees, traveling to see them can be a wonderful bonding experience for you and them. Plus, you’ll have a better understanding of the way they work, where they live and more, so you can work together even better.

6) Inspiration, Motivation & Relaxation

There’s a reason companies hold team retreats – they really do help with employee morale. As an entrepreneur, you often put taking care of yourself and your own needs on the back burner while trying to grow your company. However, it’s crucial you take time off to relax, and find new inspiration and motivation. You’ll be amazed what a month in Europe can do for your creativity, your business, and yourself.

Despite this, we know for many entrepreneurs it’s incredibly challenging to leave your business, even just for a few days. For those that can’t get away for long, we recommend taking a more local trip for a long weekend and starting out small. Try unplugging and doing something you love, like hiking or going the spa, to get away from work and technology for a day or two.

For those that have started online businesses, we can’t stress how amazing spending a month or more traveling is for you and your business. Joyce shared the transformational impact spending a month in Spain had on her, after one year of running her startup and Angela shared how it helped her take a leap and grow her business.

Starting a company doesn’t come without sacrifice, much of which is necessary to get it off the ground. But, we believe it’s time you start putting yourself first more and taking advantage of the flexibility it offers. Being an entrepreneur isn’t about all work all the time, it’s about balance, growth and doing what you love. So, it’s time to travel!

Written by Meesen Brown, Cofounder & CEO of Behere.

Now, feeling inspired to do some traveling while running your business? Pick a location below or send us a note [email protected] and we’ll help connect you to the spaces and people that will make your time abroad amazing!

Traveling for Work? Here’s How to Stay Healthy & Productive

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Josh

If you’ve taken one of the 465 million business trips in the US last year, you’re probably familiar with the hassles that come with traveling for work. The headaches of being in a new city and having to familiarize yourself with and figure everything out.

You may have experienced a lot of wasted time, delays, searching for a place to stay, dealing with unreliable wifi and uncomfortable or unsatisfactory accommodation. You might’ve skipped the hotel gym or craved a home cooked meal after a couple days. All these things, lead to a loss of routine – the lack of; home comforts, reliable work areas and exercise. That loss of routine can end up costing more than just your time. It can cost your company and team, a lot of time and money.

You see, when you lose your routine it throws you out of whack. Couple that with being in a subpar hotel room, eating out every meal and letting your activity levels slip, and you can fall into a funk for days, even weeks, after you return home.

Here’s what will help you stay sane and productive while traveling for work:

A comfortable apartment.

When traveling you need a place to feel at home, take a hot shower after a long day, and make breakfast without having to put on pants. Having a space to work on your laptop at home is also a necessity. Forget hotel rooms that make you feel like a tourist or stuffy corporate traveler. Relaxing in a comfortable, private space that feels like home does wonders for your morale while traveling.

A designated space for work & meetings.

You need a place to take calls, work on presentations and prep for meetings while traveling. It’s best this is a designated space to go to plug in and do what you’re there for – work. Hotel lobby’s and cafes have unreliable wifi and get loud and distracting. When you use a coworking or office space, you can get online and into your work, fast. Plus, they have call and meeting rooms so you can be distraction free and present for your important meetings.

Prioritize your health and fitness.

Whether you prefer to squeeze in a 15 minute HIIT workout, knock out some stress in a boxing class, or decompress in an hour of yoga, having somewhere to move while traveling is essential. Prioritizing your health and wellness, lead to a happier, more focused and more productive you. Booking fitness classes ahead of time area a proven way to commit to your exercise goals while traveling. By booking ahead you’ve already committed, so even if you don’t feel like working out, you know you’ll be thanking yourself after.

Gain some knowledge on the city before you go.

Don’t waste your time spending hours searching for neighborhoods, city info, restaurants etc while there or taking the touristy suggestions. Getting information on the city, as well as local recommendations before you go, mean you can spend more time enjoying and less time being unsatisfied. Having recommendations and helpful info curated by locals, also mean you can skip the touristy areas and opt for some seriously delicious – and lower priced – restaurants. Plus, knowing the currency, cultural information, if there’s Uber there or which cabs to take, and which neighborhoods to stay in, come in super handy before arriving.

Stay connected to your team.

Staying connected to your team while traveling is incredibly important. Being in a different city or time zone can pose as a challenge, however if you’re prepared it shouldn’t be an issue. If you’re looking for the best tools to stay connected while working remotely, we shared them here.

All these should help make your business travels significantly better. While the airport line ups and travel time can’t be reduced, these four things will save you a lot of time – and headaches – ensuring you’re putting your best foot forward for your work trip. Plus, with staying healthy and booking in advance, you might just have time to see some neat places in that city! At Behere, we know how important these are, which is why we take care of all of them, in one easy to use booking platform. The best part, it’s free to use and your travel manager can also sign up and monitor your trips.

Ready to book your next business trip? Head to Behere or choose your city below. Want to share with your travel manager, send them this link. If you don’t see the city you’re traveling to next, send us an email [email protected].

Written by Meesen Brown, CEO of Behere.
Meesen is the cofounder and CEO of Behere. She’s an avid traveler, speaker, dual citizen, healthy snack lover and is always looking for ways to reduce her carbon footprint. She spends most her time in New York, Barcelona or Toronto.

Millennial Travel and The Rise of Bleisure Travel

Posted on January 9, 2019 by Josh

According to a report on millennial travel, the once clear boundaries between “work” and “play” are slowly dissolving – replaced by new expectations.

Guest Post by Rebecca Muller

One third of Americans pick vacation destinations based on their ability to stay connected to their daily lives, and over use technology throughout their vacation to stay up to date with email and work-related tasks. According to forecasting in Ford’s latest travel trends report, these statistics echo a larger movement taking over millennial travel: the ‘bleisure’ class.

Part business trip, part leisure vacation, the bleisure phenomenon is a trend that stems from the technologies that have allowed us to “go away,” but not truly ‘go away’.

In some circumstances, this blurring of work and play can be beneficial in today’s workplace culture. Hypothetically, if employees feel more comfortable booking a vacation knowing they can answer an occasional email if needed, they can benefit by not feeling horrible stress throughout their trip and wondering what happened at the office.

But in practice, it’s often worse to feel that connection — knowing you’re able to check back in with the office can mean you’re unable to resist the urge to do so.

The trend reflects a generation that has serious trouble unplugging and being present. The report specifically points out the “paradox of plugging in to check out,” as digital nomads are “finding new ways to plug in and work in order to physically check out of the office.” This always-in-office mindset poses a threat to our well-being, and even sets a standard that employees should in fact check email on vacation.

While this trend of going on a business-leisure vacation may sound like the best of both worlds, there is still value in setting boundaries with technology and getting our time back, allowing us move from “time well spent” to “time well invested.” With pushes in both directions, millennials will have to gauge whether or not incorporating work into their leisure time is affecting their well-being and mental state — and plan accordingly. In other words, if you find that you’re unable to relax at the beach without checking your inbox every few minutes, you may be better off scheduling that automatic “Out of Office” email.

Want to find balance while experiencing life in a new city? Work remotely from an innovative city for the month. Or simply take a break, travel to write, take a sabbatical, it’s entirely up to you. Learn more here.

Originally posted on Thrive Global.

Rebecca Muller, Editorial Fellow at Thrive Global
Rebecca is a graduate of New York University, where she studied Media, Culture and Communications with a minor in Creative Writing. For her undergraduate thesis, she researched the relationship between women and fitness media consumerism.

Tag: business travel