Being able to travel whenever or wherever is one of the greatest benefits of running your own business (or working for a business that provides that option). But even if you have the proper systems in place—such as using great apps for staying in touch and surrounding yourself with a strong team—travel can be tough on business no matter how well you prepare for it. Reduced productivity, less organization, and sporadic scheduling can easily happen.
These notorious downfalls make the entire experience much less attractive, ultimately forcing people to travel less and lose out on such an amazing benefit.
While there are countless lists on the Internet about productivity tools that make managing your business easier and more efficient, there’s no substitute for smart strategies and proper planning. Your level of productivity while traveling will be determined well before you even leave.
Here are some strategies to help you manage work from the road. It’ll feel like you never even left the office.
1. Keep your inbox clean
Inbox management is an uphill battle on a normal workday, so expecting to manage a full inbox on the road is simply unreasonable. However, keeping a clean inbox on the road is a great way to efficiently stay in the loop and keep track of things you need to do. If a task is on hold until you hear back from someone (or for any other reason out of your control), you can still archive it and track it by using a to-do list application like ToDoist or Boomerang, which brings it back to the top of your inbox at a set time in the future as a reminder.
2. Bring along a sleep mask
Handling business from the road is always stressful, so in order to operate at 100 percent, you need to take care of yourself. One of the biggest factors for mental performance is your quality of sleep, and two of the most important factors for quality sleep are room temperature and light pollution. Wherever you’re staying will probably have a thermometer to control temperature, but reducing light in a bright room is a tougher problem to address. By having a quality sleep mask handy, a bright room becomes a non-issue. Give yourself the best possible chance at a refreshing night’s sleep.
3. Stock up on healthy food
Another determining factor for operating at 100 percent is the food you fuel yourself with. We all know it’s much more difficult to eat healthy brain food while traveling. But if you think about it, there’s quite a few nonperishable, healthy food options you could keep handy that is also easy to eat and won’t take up too much space: tuna fish packets, pre-cooked lentil packets, bananas, apples, tangerines, peanut butter, and trail mix are all great options. As always, stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.
4. Plan for when you won’t have Wi-Fi
We can do almost everything from our phones nowadays, especially if you’re using the latest cloud software business tools and their apps. But sometimes we just need to work from a laptop. You’d be surprised how many places have reliable Wi-Fi—Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Panera, and McDonalds—and chances are, you’re never too far from free Wi-Fi.
Also, as a member of WeWork, you have access to all of their locations across the country and across the world. With locations in almost all of the major U.S. cities, being a WeWork member is a nice luxury to have, as it not only provides fast and reliable Wi-Fi, but a comfortable and familiar place to work—and plenty of coffee.
5. Automate as much as possible
Automating as many processes and tasks as possible not only makes travel easier, but it makes your business stronger. Why spend five hours on a task when it can be done in two, or better yet, automated and done with none? Your competitors are likely scaling with efficient cloud software, so if you’re not, you’re already at a competitive disadvantage.
But when you’re on the road, the benefits of automation go further than just efficiency—automation help prevents human error. Human error is usually the main cause of most surprise problems. Nothing can toss a wrench in your travel plans more than an unexpected problem that needs to be addressed, so automation is insurance just as much as it is a tool.
6. Build a strong team around you
You can’t be at all places at all times, and travel is the perfect example of that. And while building a strong team is important, it’s even more important for the larger picture: building a team is the surest way to scale.
7. Prioritize what’s important
Last but not least, when you’re traveling, available working hours will be very minimal, so prioritizing what absolutely needs to be done is the key to keeping things moving forward. If you have a lot of moving parts and a lot of information to keep track of, using an intuitive and visually-based CRM is a great idea—Pipedrive being my favorite and the one I use to run my own business. Or, if you’re more interested in keeping a running checklist of tasks to be completed, an app like ToDoist is a great option. too.