Speaking

The 3 Ways to Run Your Business While You’re Away

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I meet business owners all the time who share my love of travel.

And then there are those who – burned out by corporate road warrior days – shudder when they think of traveling.

What I realized is that “travel” can’t be used as a one-size-fits-all description. You’re familiar with vacation and business travel, but there’s also work-away travel, which is becoming increasingly popular with business owners.

The tactics for successfully running your business while taking time off are very different depending on whether you’re on vacation, traveling for business or on a work-away adventure. Here is a breakdown of the different kinds of travel and how to get the most benefit out of each type.

Vacation Travel

Benefits: On vacation, the idea is that you get to completely disconnect from the business so you can come back refreshed and renewed.

Obstacles: As a business owner, it is tremendously challenging to completely step away. Most business owners end up checking email anyway, taking calls, putting out fires. Our business is such a part of us that there is serious resistance to completely shutting down. This often results in taking shorter vacations than you’d like.

Success strategies: In order to completely give yourself the freedom to disconnect, you’ll want to start with your “I’m out of the office” autoresponder on your email, but also have a second-in-command who can handle inquiries while you’re away. This can be an assistant or even a fellow business owner. And one thing that always helps my brain relax is to schedule prospect appointments the week following my vacation, so I know that my vacation isn’t breaking the momentum.

Business Travel

Benefits: Pretty obvious, right? You get out of your comfort zone, build your network and your business.

Obstacles: These are primarily about managing your energy. Even if you are doing the exact same work that you’d do in your regular office, being in an unfamiliar environment takes more energy. And don’t get me started on food choices while you’re on the road! Managing food choices on the road is an energy drain no matter what: you’re either expending energy to search out good food choices, or not fueling your energy by making not-so-great food choices.

Success strategies: Acknowledge that you will not have the same energy capacity as you do in your usual work environment. Choose a schedule of transportation that doesn’t have you arriving depleted, even if it costs an extra $20-50. Don’t overschedule your time and set yourself up for failure. Think about food choices before you go, packing some healthy snacks so you’re not grabbing bad choices out of desperation. And exercise. Even 15 minutes on a treadmill will do you good!

Work-away Travel

Work-away travel is where you run your business from another location, while spending a good amount of time NOT working and instead exploring and enjoying the place you’re visiting. For instance, last year I stayed in Prague for the month of September. I worked on average 3 days a week, then explored and vacationed the rest of the time.

Benefits: Work-away combines the best of vacation and business travel. But unlike vacation travel, you aren’t expending energy trying to resist working on your business. This allows you to be a lot more present for your time off. On the business side, you can not only keep operations moving, but also find opportunities local to where you’re staying to expand your business through speaking, networking and prospecting (this takes a little pre-planning). And finally, it allows you to travel and stay away longer. It’s a great choice if you love really sinking into a new country or community and soaking up the local experience.

Obstacles: These can all be lumped under “planning.” Planning for the expense in your budget and for the operations of your business – those are pretty obvious. But also for how you will spend your time off, because you want to make sure you take that time off! And planning for what happens if you get sick. And for any time zone differences.

Success strategies: Yes, I waxed eloquent about the benefits, but in order for this option to really work for you and your business, you’ve got to be strategic. Think through your schedule and decide how and when you want to work while you’re away. Let your clients know way ahead of time. If you will be unavailable for any of that time or don’t want to take client appointments during that time because of a difference of time zones, start writing that into your client contracts. Create a budget! And make contact and set appointments BEFORE you arrive. It’s a great idea to travel with other business owners so you’re not trying to figure all this out on your own. See one option here: https://marycravets.pages.ontraport.net/irelandretreat

For more on successful “work-away” travel that allows you to get away for a whole month (or more) without losing any momentum in your business, check this out: https://facebook.com/MaryCravets/videos/618741008905041/

Life Imitating My Speaking Career

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skateboarder“Hey Mary, can you come facilitate our board retreat… today?”

I received this call recently and could hardly stifle my laughter.

You see, I often speak to groups of entrepreneurs about priorities and productivity, and this is the example I give:

“What if someone calls you at 10:30am and says their luncheon speaker just cancelled and they want to know if you’re available? If you have client work due at noon, and you already put it off until the moment you received the call, you’re going to have to decline what could potentially be a very lucrative speaking engagement. Get your top priorities done first so you can jump on opportunities when they arrive.”

So when I received this very last minute request for a paid, same-day opportunity, you can understand my amusement!

Then I did exactly what I teach:

  1. Check your priorities. I looked at the priorities on my action list and evaluated whether or not this new opportunity superseded what I’d already planned.
  2. Confirm whether the opportunity is in alignment with your goals. I thought about the opportunity again and evaluated it against my bigger goals to make sure it was a fit.
  3. Make sure you have enough time to deliver quality. I checked the clock to make sure I could actually make it there, not just on time but also prepared to speak.

This opportunity passed all three criteria, so I accepted.

It’s also important to note that I was able to make this decision in a matter of seconds because I had a few things set up in advance: clear business goals, and a set schedule and action plan for the day.

For those times when we get these last-minute calls, it’s great if we can be flexible but we also have to take care of ourselves by first considering our priorities. Just because someone says, “Jump!” we don’t have to react, “How high?”. By getting in the practice of going over the next days tasks the night before, we are much more prepared to start the day with clear intentions. And, knowing exactly what needs to be done creates potential to be flexible for opportunities.

Mary Cravets’ Three Things to Achieve Success

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Jane GareeContributed by Rock Star Sales Coach, Jane Garee

Have you ever wondered what exactly makes successful people successful? It’s always been a burning question for me, and I love to ask them what they think.

Specifically, whenever I’m given the opportunity to “pick the brain” of someone whose accomplishments I admire, I ask this question: “What are the three things you would suggest someone do to achieve success?

The answers are always fascinating and range from spiritual to practical.

Many times, people have the same answers but they are expressed in a way that they seem different. I love that because it reminds me in addition to there being different roads to success, there are also several different ways of making the journey.

Recently, I asked this question to my friend and colleague, Mary Cravets.

A little bit about Mary so you understand the context of her answer to my “Three Things” question…

Mary is a Business Coach who I think is just brilliant about creating systems so you don’t have to “babysit” your business all the time and can enjoy life more.

Her business model consists of online and offline activities and she works with people both one-on-one and in groups. This girl knows how to make money, and she also knows how to stop and smell the roses.

Her clients love her. I adore her.

Here are Mary’s “Three Things” answers if you want to thrive in your business, regardless of what you do.

  1. Send out between fifteen and thirty requests for speaking gigs every month. Speaking can be defined as either in person or on webinars and teleseminars. Speaking is one of the fastest ways to get business because people experience you in a personal and in depth way. You won’t necessarily get every gig you go after but you’ll get enough to keep you busy (and profitable).
  2. Stay engaged with your past clients on a regular basis. Past clients love you and are going to want to continue working with you so don’t forget about them! Mary prefers doing this mostly by email but also calls them directly. Since they already love you, they will most likely be the ones buying from you again. You don’t have to “convince” them.
  3. Send out an eZine on a regular basis. Your tribe is truly interested in what you are doing and the best eZine will combine both your work and personal life. No, you don’t have to get that personal but where you’ve been and what you’re up to is always interesting to your clients, especially when they truly care about you. An eZine will build your list, build your credibility and build your business.

So what do you think? See anything in there that could help catapult your business?

While knowledge is power, implementation of that knowledge is what will really get you cookin’ with gas.

What can you do this week to cause a shift in your business? Get more speaking gigs? Reconnect? Engage your tribe more regularly? Maybe it’s something else for you but whatever it is, don’t spend any more time thinking about, go and do it.