~ by Eileen O’Shanassy ~.
Traveling for business can be a great way to meet with clients, coworkers, and other people in your field. Though a lot of productive tasks can be completed while traveling for work, it can also be a stressful time with a lot of lost business hours. Fortunately, there are several tips below to make sure your next business trip is more manageable and better organized.
The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben
Be Organized
Prior to going on any business trip, it is very important to be organized. You should ensure you have your itinerary booked in advance and outlined according to events you’ll be attending. This includes knowing the travel schedule, accommodations, meeting schedule, and other social or professional activities you want to take care of. Having a well thought-out plan will help you stay on task and be more organized.
Find Backup for Needed Tasks
Another tip that can make your trips easier is to find backup for tasks that need to be completed at your home office. While you are away, the rest of your business will continue to operate. This often means you will have to spend time responding to emails, taking phone calls, and reading reports. To ensure you are able to stay focused on your travel tasks, you should find someone in your home office to handle as many tasks as possible while you are away. This will help you stay efficient and take a lot off your plate.
If you don’t have the first option, make sure you have a backup plan that will allow you to get work done in your down time. This might mean talking to your Internet provider to get high-speed internet for small and medium businesses wherever you happen to be. Relying on hotel and airport wi-fi can often be slow or expensive when it doesn’t work out.
Abbey Road
Make Time to Relax
When traveling for business, it may seem like you are working 24 hours a day. To ensure the stress of this doesn’t get to you, be sure to build in some time to relax. This should include budgeting enough time to sleep, get in a quick workout, and spend a little bit of time by yourself seeing the sights.
Be Realistic
Most importantly, you need to be realistic about scheduling when you are taking a business trip. It is easy to cram in as many meetings as possible. However, doing this often results in feeling rushed and out of time, which will ultimately require you to either cancel some meetings on short notice, or to not be focused during meetings that you do hold. In either situation, it can be counter-productive. A better option is to plan fewer meetings and to budget enough time to be productive.
Traveling for work can be very productive and important for building your business, however, it can also be a very stressful time. Be sure to plan and make time for all the important tasks you want to get done the most.
Meet the Author: Eileen O’Shanassy
Eileen O’Shanassy is a freelance writer and blogger based out of Flagstaff, AZ. She writes on a variety of topics and loves to research and write. She enjoys baking, biking, and kayaking. Check her out on Twitter @eileenoshanassy.
