While working in the Netherlands I have traveled for business 4 times, all to Colombia and Peru. The very first trip was to Lima. I confess that although I worked hard to get the management position I have today when the time of the first trip came, I was terrified. The imposter syndrome and self-doubt invaded me. As a brief background, it’s good to mention that I started working for my current employer as an executive assistant and gradually moved towards a position in which I would handle the Product Portfolio for the Latin American market. This process has brought me a lot of growth and lessons learned, these are some things I wish I had known before my first business trip.
1. The Importance of Planning and Double Checking
Although I was never in charge of booking my hotels and/or flights. The first time I flew to Lima I missed double-checking my arrival time. I was flying from Brussels via Madrid to Lima and accidentally I asked to book a ticket for a flight for which my arrival time was around 5 am on the working Monday instead of the Sunday right before. OMG! That was such a stress trigger and I had not even arrived, not even boarded my flight in Brussels! It is very important to look at all departure and arrival times and dates especially if you are doing transcontinental flights. So make sure you double-check them!!!
2. Pack Smart
On another occasion, when I was traveling for my first trip to Bogotá I thought I would travel light and pack all my needs in just a checked-in bag and no carry-on. This sounded beautiful, but unfortunately, it was not the best idea for a business trip. Imagine that I arrived at Bogotá airport, right before midnight, which was already exhausting and my suitcase did not arrive! There goes Smarty Pants and her plans!!! 1) I had to do a baggage claim which of course took some good time, but on top, I had no clean clothes for the next day’s meetings. I left Dorado airport with an essentials bag from the airline which included a t-shirt and some toiletries, destined to go to my first meeting the next day with my traveling clothes. This could have been avoided if I had packed a carry-on, or at least a full change of clothes.
3. Prepare your Meetings
Drafting an Agenda for the working days and meetings to hold is CRUCIAL. There are several reasons for this.1) you need to ensure that you do not miss any needed discussion points. 2) Ideally these discussion points should be shared with your client before the meeting so that they prepare as well. 3) you should not rely on your memory, on the contrary, you should bring necessary documents for discussion if applicable, available offline on your laptop and/or USB.
4. Prepare Giveaways
It’s also important to come to your meetings with some gifts that remind your client of you and create a mutual feeling of compromise and commitment. For that, I recommend that you count the number of meetings so that you bring the respective number of necessary gifts.
5. Stay Connected
Speaking just then about having your laptop and USB Ready to work offline. What should always be online is your phone! So do not hesitate to get a local sim card and avoid relying on wifi for mobile connection. For your own safety since not all places offer wifi connection and to keep your colleagues and clients informed of your arrival and that you are on your way. Having a phone connected to the local network is very important.
6. Stay Productive, and make use of your downtime.
While you are on a business trip, back in the office things keep on running too, it is important to make all efforts to connect to your email to at least check on urgent matters and to manage the workload that will wait for you upon your return. Naturally, you should leave an out-of-office automatic reply on your email, but still, making efforts to connect at least for an hour per day or every other day makes a difference.
Another way to make good use of your downtime is when you get stuck in traffic – to prepare for meetings or summarize discussions held, commute time is useful for this. For example in my most recent trip to Colombia, I stayed stuck in traffic for 1.5 hrs, I used it to progress in summarizing the meetings that had already taken place. It left me with free time upon arriving at the hotel.
7. Networking and Staying Connected
It is worth making yourself present in people’s minds and for this, you should carry with you business cards. Perhaps you like the paper version to deliver personally, or maybe you prefer a QR code to pass over. Whatever your preference is you must choose either one to introduce yourself and leave your contact details to the people you meet. In my case, I still prefer to deliver a hardcopy of my business card and for that, I carry a full 100pc pack with me in my bag throughout the entire business trip.
8. It Will Be Exhausting – Make Time for Yourself.
Last but not least, the elephant in the room: Business trips are rewarding but exhausting as well. It is very important to protect your well-being and to also program time to unwind for yourself. I would start with the basics – sleep sufficiently, do not underestimate the importance of a good night’s sleep. Next up advice is to avoid saturating the agenda, having a maximum of 3 meetings per day is enough. Each meeting demands preparation and mental sharpness. Adding compromises to a day will most likely decrease your performance.
I advise you to request some days for yourself within the same trip. For the company it will be the same expense to pay for your airfare/transport for one specific return day or another, therefore do not be afraid to ask for some days for yourself to unwind and to finally have proper time to enjoy the destination if worthy of so. I admit I had not done this until my 4th business trip and I wish I had done it in the last ones as well. We only live once and we deserve a reward after traveling for work.
Go rock your meetings and enjoy life!
With love,
Corporate Sofia
