Travelpreneur: An entrepreneur that uses travel for his or her advantage.
We all agree that a traveling entrepreneur touring the world is pretty rewarding and fulfilling right? With the concept of backpacking, anyone can instantly hit the road and get to places (without too much spending)…
Well – come to think of it – is backpacking just about rewarding yourself?
I’ve pondered hard on the impact of first travel outside my homeland. (Yes, it is my first time to step foot in a foreign land)
Well, it turns out that backpacking isn’t just rewarding. You can actually learn and get some tricks to shore up your business acumen.
I realized that backpacking makes you intelligent and makes your business and entrepreneur’s mind broader.
Accidental Travelpreneur
Before my first trip…
I’ve never EVER considered traveling to countries just for fun or just to reward myself. Maybe it is my frugal nature.
I’d rather chill at a nearby place than spend more on foreign travels. Imagine spending so much instead of spending on valuable things you can have.
I kept telling myself:
“What a waste! You can just simply invest hard-earned money on interest-bearing securities. “
If you are logical and thinking big about your successful future self, you can get what I mean.
It’s all about delayed gratification.
Until I was forced to travel:
I was forced to go to Singapore – an exposure requirement for the Certified E-Commerce Entrepreneur, Specialist, and Professional. We were required to visit big e-commerce players such as Paypal and eBay. There were also required to meet up with tech startups.
I had no choice, really. Going frugal through backpacking as my friend Kach always tells me, I just booked a ticket and went on to go for the cheapest deal I can find. Yeah, it also helped that my friends in Singapore had a couch for me.
What happened next changed my perspective.
I am sharing with you 8 things I learned on my first foreign trip that can help business people and entrepreneurs.
I learned more in my first travel than a semester in business school
I was surprised to learn that backpacking is a learning tool. Every experience in traveling is a learning opportunity to see a new culture and meet new people to share stories with. Sensory and experiential learning through backpacking beats classroom learning.
My experience meeting experts in the field of e-commerce and talking to startup entrepreneurs broadened my horizon, it made me realize that there are still things you need to learn and things you need to experience first-hand.
Travelpreneur Lessons: The Ultimate Training for Adaptation
No one can expect a smooth flow when you are in a foreign land. Delayed flights, wrong directions, and change of plans would be the basic ones – but I tell you – there will be problems in every travel.
The good thing, you will be forced to adapt to these mishaps. This is a trait that backpackers and great entrepreneurs have: adaptation. You have no one to turn to. You only have yourself to help you.
Travel Experience as a Source of Business Ideas
Just seeing a new culture will open your mind to an ocean of ideas you can bring home to your homeland.
There is food obviously:
You can instantly have food ideas you can try to replicate. You may think that globalization introduced us to foreign food in our own countries. Well, I also thought that and I am wrong. The eureka moment you can have (this is just on food) will be endless.
Let’s make a bet. Once you taste or even just see a new cuisine you will be thinking like:
“I can make a lot of money out of this one” or just “Where can I find these in my country?
Strengthening Leadership and Teamwork through Travel & Backpacking
If you have friends with you, good well to you! You can have some help when you got into some trouble. However, you need to work with them as a great team member. Teamwork is one of the things you will acquire while traveling. As you will see, no traveler or backpacker can make it on their own; same as every entrepreneur that needs to collaborate to succeed.
Travelpreneur needs people to succeed. It could be just in the form of asking a question from a stranger. For some, it is leading the pack. At the very least, it’s teamwork. For the deeper benefits, travel brings out the leader in everyone.
Travel Expands Your Cultural Awareness
Going to different places with a different set of norms and stereotypes makes anyone feel humbled. Though it is interesting if you think of it, seeing a culture different from yours will make anyone realize that your known truth is not absolute. You’ll definitely feel small in this world. This realization can make you mindful of your environment.
You will Acquire Tricks in Time Management
You only have a predetermined time to spend in places that you will visit. Not knowingly, you’ll earn time management tricks. You will be forced to maximize the time you have – a nice trait for businessmen and entrepreneurs.
You’ll Meet People which is Great for Future Collaboration
You’ll surely meet different people when you travel. That is a fact. It is very surprising that a conversation in a foreign country can be a collaboration opportunity in the future. Just add people on social media and you can instantly connect with them in the future. Traveling is really about building relationships. You can use this as a way to accelerate success.
You’ll Realize that Communication is VERY VERY Important
In order to be successful, it’s not enough just to be great, you also need to tell people why you are. In order to get what you want, you need to come to tell people exactly what you want. If you are in a new environment, communication is your only companion to get what. We take communication for granted of you are in a comfort zone.