Startups require more travel than current job seekers might think. Explain why entrepreneurship allows you to travel so much.
1. Public Speaking at Events
“I travel all the time for work as I am a behavioral investigator. I speak and consult with companies about human lie detection. To be able to reach many audiences, I try to book as many events in different cities. I also love doing on the ground research in new countries to see if their cultural nonverbal behavior is different. I enjoy working with both foreign and national HR and sales teams.”
– Vanessa Van Edwards | Author and Techpreneur, Science of People
2. Living Out Location Independence
“I created Location Rebel, a community designed to help people build businesses they can run from anywhere on Earth. The nature of the community forces me to continue my own goal of traveling, both for credibility and marketing purposes. It’s my goal to show people that you don’t have to sit in a cubicle all day to make a good living!”
– Sean Ogle | Founder, Location 180, LLC
3. Because I Want To!
“I founded my business to deliver digital strategy and online business building training. You’d think that doing work online means staying behind the computer, but just like any business people need face to face interaction. I travel because I love to interact with my peers and clients, and because I want to. That’s the cool thing about running your own business.”
– Nathalie Lussier | Creator, The Website Checkup Tool
4. Networking With Other Entrepreneurs
“I have build Supreme Outsourcing around my personal values, and it allows me to travel the world all year. I love new adventures and hanging out with entrepreneurs, so I made sure that my business was built around that. I provide outsourcing services to entrepreneurs so they can focus on whats most important and delegate the rest to us.”
– Louis Lautman | Founder, Supreme Outsourcing
5. Share the Passion Live
“I founded Infographic World to help companies shift from creating content that no one actually wants to read, to creating something visual & engaging that people will want to read. I travel a lot to meet new prospect clients, face to face. It’s hard to really connect with people by phone or email. Nothing beats being able to sit down, talk to them in person, and show your passion for your business.”
– Justin Beegel | Founder, Infographic World, Inc.
6. Brand Building Takes Travel Time
“I started TalentEgg, which is a job site and career resource that helps students transition from school to work. Employers leverage our large audience of career-minded students to promote their brand and attract high-quality applicants. One of the ways we’ve built a brand among employers is finding opportunities to give presentations on youth jobs, and because Canada is so large, I travel a lot.”
– Lauren Friese | Founder, TalentEgg
7. Finding Diamonds in the Rough
“Our new website FMainstream! has me traveling like crazy! My team searches the internet to find amazing new talent you’ve never heard of so that we can feature them on our site and offer tools to help them build their fanbase. I travel so much because there are amazing artists everywhere! You’d be surprised how much talent you can find in small cities like Madison, WI! It keeps me super busy.”
– Jason Smikle | Managing Director, TUV Mediaworks
8. Trade Show Sponsorships
“As the lead for sales and marketing at RewardMe, I sponsor and attend about ten conferences per year across the nation. We bring a booth, handout materials and bags with our company logo to pass out to attendees. I also make sure to secure a speaker panel at each conference to solidify our industry expertise.”
– Jun Loayza | President, Ecommerce Rules
9. It’s All Startup Research
“My startup focuses on events and communities. I travel to learn how organizers run events and the different types of communities in each city. Some are more focused on Tweetups, while some are simply meeting over coffee. Understanding who you do business with and meeting your clients face-to-face has helped us identify the problems we aim to solve.”
– Aron Schoenfeld | Founder & CEO, Do It In Person LLC
10. Opportunities at Conferences
“As Co-Founder and CEO, I travel once or twice a month. My trips are usually oriented around industry trade shows (Game Developers Conference, WWDC, E3, CES) or new partnership opportunities. My parents joke that if they would have known how much I’d be traveling today, they would have never agreed to always pick me up at the airport!”
– Justin Beck | Co-Founder and CEO, PerBlue
11. Dedication to Business Development
“I don’t travel as much as I used to, but the first few years, I was traveling 75 percent of the year, doing most of our business development and sales. Molding Box’s service menu caters to businesses of all types, so most of our clients are still out of state. I’m big believer in face time; it shows our dedication to our clients and their products.”
– Jordan Guernsey | CEO, Molding Box
12. Long-Term Travel
“Ever since I was little, I loved traveling and exploring new places. So, I built my photography business around the idea of capturing the beauty of the world. I can’t imagine anything better.”
– Angela Pan | Owner/Photographer, Angela B Pan Photography
13. Rock Star Client
“In PR, I tend to have spurts where I travel a lot and very often. This year is one of those times – one of my clients plays guitar for a popular musician and is currently playing on her world tour. I am traveling around on some of the tour to help get him press for his solo career in different cities!”
– Steven Le Vine | CEO/President, grapevine pr
