Research indicates that entrepreneurs, who don’t travel internationally, say one of the obstacles seems to be the lack of a passport when a perfect opportunity presents itself. That’s no excuse! Get your passport and start planning, but know that you don’t become a globetrotter overnight.
Immerse yourself in culture and diversity
You can easily immerse yourself in culture and diversity without traveling too far from home. Cultural and business norms, cuisine and language all take wonderful turns at home if you keep an eye out for them. But, great delights also await you once you cross borders.
International travel, even when it’s close to home, forces you into the unknown, away from the many comforts we take for granted – language, food, clothing, religion, and familiar customs to name a few. Successful entrepreneurs thrive under pressure and excel while outside of their comfort zone. Many seek the thrill of the unknown and the way it expands their horizons.
‘. . . successful entrepreneurs thrive under pressure and excel outside of their comfort zonevibrant and significant part of contemporary culinary arts. . .’
Every entrepreneurs need to know there are ways that traveling internationally can change your understanding of yourself, your life and your business.
You can do more with less
When traveling for long periods of time, you have to pack light and work with the bare essentials, buying certain items when you arrive at your destination. Living out of a few pieces of luggage requires learning to make do with what you have on hand. Many times, something you need isn’t readily available like it always is at home. Picking up too many items along the way to make up for this can easily become a burden and a collection of too much junk.
This rings true in business as well. Many new entrepreneurs lack access to all the resources they could ever want or need in their start-up. When this happens to you, it is essential to continuously evaluate whether you’re maximizing the output of the resources you have.
Naturally, you’ll tend to grab onto any additional resources that become available, possibly skipping the time to consider their value. Not assessing what value you are placing on which items or parts of your business can cause quite the burden, as those extra items add up and slow you down. A key to early success for many businesses is to review the available resources, learn to keep the ones you can manage, maximize their productivity, and leave available room to utilize new resources as your business evolves. Letting go of the excess may seem hard, but it is well worth it in the long run.
‘…leave available room to utilize new resources as your business evolves…’
Cultural Empathy
Many people happily go about their days in a state of ‘sameness’ but that quickly changes once you travel abroad. Dozens of languages and incredibly diverse backgrounds are the ‘norm’ throughout much of the world. Feeling like an outsider in the international melting pot for the first time can be overwhelming, but well worth the discomfort.
Imagine growing up in a small town where even a ‘people-person’ realizes that it’s easy to get along with people when you grow up together, watch the same TV shows and shop at the same stores. But it’s quite different when every person you meet has almost nothing in common with you, they think you are strange, and no one has more than a rudimentary understanding of the English language.
This forces you to adapt quickly, you listen more than you talk, use hand signals and do whatever it takes to find effective ways to communicate. This mode of communication, levels the playing field and is a binding between cultures, in a way you will not otherwise experience.
‘…do whatever it takes to effectively communicate…’
Putting yourself into a situation where you’re suddenly a minority requires empathy and patience from those you are working with, and an incredible amount of humility on your part.
When international travel takes you to a place where common sense isn’t so common, you’re forced to find unique ways to communicate and achieve your goals. The same applies to being an entrepreneur, when building your business, you will inevitably find yourself in foreign situations. Acknowledging and learning from the approach different cultures bring to personal and business endeavours is a valuable experience.
‘…find unique ways to communicate and achieve your goals…’
Altering Your Definition of Success
Many consider themselves successful once they’ve expanded their bank accounts and accumulated expensive material possessions. However, the definition of success is incredibly varied. The Maasai people of East Africa see lion hunting as a sign of bravery and personal achievement, while Buddhists from India say that it is better to travel well than to arrive. The real definition of success is more about your mind-set, ultimately, success is defined by each of us individually. Your success in business doesn’t have to define your success in life. A nine to five job doesn’t have to be the norm. Millennials, in particular, have embraced this thought process as they’ve taken advantage of the opportunities offered by the digital economy.
‘…success is defined by each of us individually…’
France has even gone so far as to ban email correspondence outside of work hours. Traveling or working abroad allows you to experience and appreciate how distinct cultures and people define and celebrate success and more importantly, how they react to failure.
The reality is that the possibility of failure is ever present. You can’t allow the fear of failure to hold you back. It is one of the top reasons that many businesses don’t succeed. Never dwell on the past or spend too much time planning the future. Concentrate on the present and stop comparing yourself to others. It may be ‘mind expanding’ to accept that failure is not an option but a certainty, and never let it define you or your success.
‘…concentrate on the present and stop comparing yourself…’
If you’re looking at entrepreneurship as your ticket to easy money and a lifestyle of flashy cars and photos of the cash you see on Instagram, think again. A tornado of skill, ability, passion, hustle, perseverance, and a lot of luck go into developing a successful business long-term.Define your own success and bring it all together. Treat failure as a stepping stone to your next achievement instead of a step backward. It won’t be easy, but treating yourself as a work in progress is the way to grow.
‘…treat yourself as a work in progress…’
Tell us in the comments, how you as an entrepreneur, thrive on international travel?
When you travel, the local food is an opening into the culture, people and country. Local food gives a deeper and more meaningful understanding of your destination.
How do you eat when you travel?
Do you eat familiar foods or do you try unique and local foods? We encourage you to experiment and eat local for an enhanced travel experience. Discovering local foods is a huge part of travel and there’s always something new to find.
‘…enhanced travel…’
Connect to the local people.
One of the best ways to find local and authentic dishes on your travels is to ask the locals. Be curious about foods and unusual displays. If you see something you’ve never seen before, simply ask the vendor what it is. The vendor will more than likely give you a taste.
If it’s something that needs to be cooked, ask for the name of a dish that has that ingredient and the best place where you can try it. You will notice the local people will go out of their way to help. Food fortunately is a universal language that everybody understands. By displaying curiosity, you will find that you can communicate and connect in meaningful and unexpected ways.
‘…authentic dishes on your travels…’
Eat where the locals eat.
As you travel and visit local eating spots, usually located a few streets away from the beach or main roads, you’ll taste the most genuine food and you will be contributing money into deserving pockets.
‘…travel and visit local eating spots…’
Open up to new tastes, flavors and textures.
Traveling to new destinations is the perfect opportunity to eat something new. When you go local and seek out the regional dishes, the better your chances are of discovering new tastes, flavors and textures. Traveling allows you to become more adventurous in your food choices. You discover new foods and also rediscover new ways of cooking foods you would usually avoid.
‘…become more adventurous…’
Visit the local food market.
Get a slice of local life at a local food market where you will see what grows locally and what’s in season. You’ll discover fruits and vegetables you’ve never seen or heard of before. The local markets also offer ready-made dishes for you to enjoy and most have gifts you can purchase to take back home.
‘…discover fruits and vegetable never seen or heard of…’
Visit local stores and supermarkets.
Take the time to explore the local shops and larger supermarkets. These outlets are a window into the country’s way of life. See if they eat foods that are familiar to you, then see what new offerings you can find.
‘…a window into the country’s way of life…’
Visit farms and harbors.
See what’s growing in the soil and in the fields and find out what the fishermen are bringing to shore. If you’re lucky you may even find fish and shellfish straight from the boats, cooked or not and ready to eat. You’ll never find fresher fish than at the harbor.
‘…fish and shellfish straight from the boats…’
Without food, there is no authentic travel experience. By discovering new tastes and flavors, you gain a new appreciation and perspective of the places you visit.
