How To Maintain Focus On Your Business Whilst Travelling The World…

Photo courtesy of rcameraw from Flickr

…or going through a crisis, or having to multi-task or generally just having to cope with the challenges life throws at you!

As a freelancer or entrepreneur, you don’t necessarily expect an easy ride but living as a LIP can add some extra dimensions to the usual challenges you face, some of which you just don’t expect no matter how much you plan.

Having survived staying in a country where we don’t speak the language, a minor marriage crisis and living in 6 countries alone this year, it’s been an uphill battle at times to focus on our businesses.

Here are 6 of the most effective things I’ve tried this year, which have helped me maintain focus on the prize (a profitable business I love) whilst gadding around the globe…

Find and follow the passion

The truth is that only when you are running a business you love and doing something that you are passionate about, will you feel compelled to work both on it and in it every day. Even when you’re faced with external challenges such as constant travel, financial pressures or family problems, if your business is something that energises and motivates you, it becomes a comforting constant and focus in your life.

How do you know when you’ve found the passion?

Hmmm, well for me it’s when work doesn’t seem like work; you’d be doing it even if you didn’t earn a penny; and when you can’t wait to wake up every day and work.

This also then throws up an interesting question…do you play to your strengths or work on your weaknesses? Personally, I believe that being aware of your weaknesses is crucial in business but that focusing too much on these areas and aiming to strengthen them, means you neglect your strengths and instead of playing to them, you let them languish in the background whilst you work on your weaknesses.

Don’t you find it’s much more fun doing something you’re good at, rather than constantly struggling to improve at something you’re not?

Have a proactive and not reactive strategy

Vital for any business, irrespective of whether you’re a LIP or not, having a plan or a strategy or at least some idea of where your business is headed will help keep you focused on the end goal when your mind is elsewhere. Whilst you’re traveling, the lure of the beach and the excitement of all the new things around you might just seem more attractive than sitting at your laptop slaving away.

Taking your eye off the ball in this way, especially for any prolonged period of time, can lead to unnecssary issues (cashflow problems, new prospects/clients drying up, not keeping up with any changes in your industry and customers unhappy with your new, laid-back attitude) which will eventually have you reacting like a person possessed, when you realise your income is drying up.

Having a proactive plan which covers the bare minimum you need to do to keep your business ticking over nicely. It will not only afford you more time to play and less time to stress about it, it can also remove the threat of having to act (react) based upon any pressing external needs (e.g. needing more money, more clients, more business).

Just do one thing

As I’ve just mentioned above, your plan should include the bare minimum of actions you need to take on a daily/weekly/monthly basis in order to keep your business running.

An effective way to do this is to focus on doing just one thing each day that will take you closer towards your end goal. It could be writing one chapter or part of a chapter of your new book; it could be spending half an hour each day refining your marketing funnel; it could even be as simple as checking your emails once a day and responding to all your customer/client/prospect enquiries.

At times I have found this a good method for staying on top of things without feeling like I have to focus 100% of my time and energy on the business.

The trick, of course, is selecting the ‘right’ action to complete each day…that’s why your plan is so crucial, to know where you’re headed so you know which activities will take you closer to rather than further away from it.

Recognise when you need time off

Travelling is physically and mentally stressful - unless, that is, you can afford to do it in style on the new Singapore Airlines planes (one of our future goals!). Constantly changing where you’re based is also stressful - having to adjust and adapt to new cultures, new food, and new areas every time you move.

There may be times when it all gets a bit much for you and the business is the last thing you want to focus on.

If that ever happens, stop. Take a few days off and re-charge your batteries. Pushing on through is not only detrimental to your health, it is typically not a route to making effective and strategic business decisions either.

Outsource the time-drainers

Travel planning, finding accommodation, researching new places to visit, getting the low down on how everything works in each place - and that’s just your personal ‘to do’ list, never mind the business one!

I have literally spent hours and hours this year researching each new destination, sorting out flights and finding accommodation options. When you’re working on this, you can’t be focusing on the business. Outsourcing some of the less vital tasks can save you time, effort and stress.

Whilst you’re at it, you can also start analysing your business processes to identify those that can be outsourced (your non-core processes) and ensure you focus your attention on your core processes only.

Re-adjust, make changes, give up - if required

You may realise in the course of your journey that the business you are running is not what you want to do in the long term (or you may have known this before you left). This happened to me and it was very unnerving, despite it not being the first time!

Learning to recognise that when you feel no energy or passion for a business you run and that it feels like more of a chore than a joy to keep it running, is a useful skill to develop. Taking action and doing something about it, is an even more useful one to develop! I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing it the way I did it (without having implemented another main income stream to replace it), but if you are going to grow and build your business in a way that can continue to support your LIP lifestyle, then wouldn’t it be more fun to do it with one you enjoyed?

Too many small business owners and entrepreneurs don’t know when to give up - believing that it’s admitting defeat, it shows a weakness (failure) and that others will be judging you - many would rather struggle on, losing money hand over fist in some cases, than make the decision to walk away.

Living the lifestyle of a LIP does not mean that all your troubles will go away, that your life will instantly become trouble-free and you will lead the life of riley (although you might!), it just means that you have taken action to pursue what matters most to you and to lead the lifestyle you choose for yourself.

If your business isn’t up to scratch, then work out a plan which allows you to make the changes you need to, so that your business is aligned with your lifestyle - fun, exciting, passionate, full of action and exactly what you want to do.

ps. I’ve broken the schedule with this post, don’t usually post on a Sunday but will be back to the regular Monday ~ Wednesday ~ Friday schedule tomorrow. This is just a bonus!

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