Entrepreneurship Archives - Page 2 of 2

Guest Post: Business Trip: 5 Things to Help Your Work Travels Go Smoothly

If your job requires travel, you might be spending many of your working hours at an airport. It can be exhausting, but it’s often necessary. Don’t let yourself become weighed down by the burden of having to go on business trips. Instead, embrace them as an opportunity to explore new regions and make important connections. Here are five things to help your work travels go smoothly.

Find the Right Transportation

You might be traveling via plane or train for some of your business trips. However, if it’s a shorter distance, you need a good car. If your current vehicle has been used for quite a while, it might be time for an upgrade. Look for a vehicle from a place like st george car dealership that will be able to handle the distance you’re traveling. If you’re taking a plane or train, make sure you are able to book a flight that works with your schedule. You don’t want to have too many layovers to make. Work with your employers to see what kinds of arrangements can be made for you.

Leave Early

Got an important meeting to make? Don’t leave anything to chance. Instead, you should leave as early as possible. If driving, leave at least a half hour before you need to arrive (based on meeting time or when you need to check into your hotel). For air and train travel, arrive at the airport/station early. Book flights that will arrive with plenty of time for you to get situated. If there are any delays, you need to communicate to the others as quickly as possible.

Pack Wisely

You don’t want to have everything under the sun in your suitcase for a business trip, especially if it’s a particularly short one. Make sure you have the clothing you need. Your best business attire should be in the suitcase, properly dry-cleaned and folded. There should also be toiletries (preferably travel/trial sizes) and casual wear, such as pajamas. If you can avoid checking your baggage, do so. Time is of the essence when it comes to business trips, and you don’t want to be held up by baggage delays.

Sleep Well

Travel can be exhausting. However, you shouldn’t try to come into a meeting running on minimal sleep. Make sure that you are sleeping well the night before you leave. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and aim for about eight hours of sleep. You also need to factor in the possibility of jet lag. If you’re changing time zones when flying, you might be exhausted upon arriving. Give yourself a window of time to relax at your hotel and re-adjust your clock before your first meeting.

Keep Track of Essentials

You should know where your ID, passport (if applicable) and money is before anything else. They need to be easily accessible to you and protected. Don’t let them be hanging out loosely in your pockets or be jumbled in your suitcase or carry-on bag. You should have a clear idea of where they are. They should also be up-to-date with current renewal dates. You should also keep some money/credit card in a secret spot in case of emergency.

You can’t predict how a business trip will go. However, you can plan ahead and make sure it goes as well as it can. A positive attitude also makes such a difference. Realize how much you can get out of this experience. Not only can you make strides with your business partnerships, you can also step outside of your comfort zone. By following these tips, you can have a truly excellent experience on your next business trip.

Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She loves being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan finds happiness in researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.

Guest Post: Can You Be a Successful and Socially Conscious Entrepreneur?

“With great power comes great responsibility.” This sage advice guided a certain web-shooting teenage superhero, through decades of comic book issues, retcons, and movie franchise drama. It can also be a good tip for entrepreneurs. Becoming the owner of a successful business affords certain privileges and influence. You can use that influence to try to call attention to certain issues about which you’re passionate and make the world a better place. Some might even argue that if you have such influence, you have an obligation to use it for good, in the same way that Spiderman had an obligation to use his superpowers for good. But this isn’t such a difficult thing to grasp. Most of us want to do good in some way.

Long before Uncle Ben spoke those wise words, however, Sir John Dahlberg-Acton had a different quote about power: “power corrupts.” This is a quote that tends to put powerful people on the defensive, but it doesn’t mean that every powerful person is corrupt. Instead, it speaks to a fact that many rising entrepreneurs are beginning to realize: the more power you gain, the more difficult it is not to be corrupted. You may be faced with a powerful potential business partner who could skyrocket your business…even if you don’t quite agree with the way they do business. You may want to use your social media platforms to take a stance on a controversial but important issue, but fear losing your much of your customer base in doing so. The more successful you become, the more power you have to make socially conscious decisions, but your choices won’t seem as simple and clear as you imagined on the outset.

The good news is we’ve reached a time when many entrepreneurs don’t have to choose between being socially conscious or being a successful business. In fact, more and more consumers are concerned with the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the companies they support. According to public opinion surveys, 88% of consumers say they would prefer the businesses they support do their part to improve society and the environment. Employees, too, are taking a stance, with 83% of employees saying they would quit their job if they realized their employers profited from child labor. That doesn’t mean that it’s always easy to be both socially conscious and expand your business, but it’s not impossible.

image from Pixabay

Surround Yourself With Socially Conscious Partners

It can be difficult to go against the tide on your own, and the good news is you don’t have to. Think about the businesses that you admire from a CSR standpoint: the ones who don’t just claim to care about their customers and employees but actually put that claim into practice. What about the charities you most admire? Reach out to those businesses and organizations and suggest a partnership. The stronger your network of socially conscious partners, the stronger your commitment to your social responsibility will be.

You should also consider this when hiring. Find employees who care about the same things your company cares about, and promote employees who embody the values you want your company to hold.

Cut Down on Waste

The precarious state of the environment is one of the biggest concerns in today’s society. Many consumers feel it’s important to be mindful of the resources we use and not to waste what we don’t need, and they want to support companies who feel the same way. Successful businesses can not only practice waste reduction, but they can lead an example for their peers to do the same. Sometimes, this can be as simple as placing recycling bins all throughout the office and storefront or using recycled paper and reused envelopes for office supplies. Other times, it’s a change that will have to go through the whole supply chain, a decision to use recycled materials for your products and to order supplies in bulk so as to cut down on packaging waste.

Reward Socially Conscious Practices

In order to be a socially conscious entrepreneur, your business has to be socially conscious, and your business is the employees that keep it going. So find ways to get them involved. Maybe you can raise money for a charity of your choice, and award those who raise the most with time off or casual wear privileges. Make a list of eco-friendly choices and assign bonuses for each one, to be turned in at the end of the quarter. Offer paid volunteer days. Possibly most of all, open your door to employees who have suggestions of ways that your company can be more socially conscious. Incentivizing your employees to get involved in socially conscious practices will help your company to be able to make more of an impact, and it will help them feel more excited and proud to work there.

Set Achievable Goals

No matter how successful you become, you’re not going to be able to achieve world peace or end world hunger. You can’t save the whole world with socially conscious practices. Instead, focus on the things that mean the most to you as a person. Do you want to help reduce homelessness in your city? Make the world a little greener? Take a stand against child labor and sweatshops? Set goals that you can manage based on your capabilities as an entrepreneur. If you have the opportunity to do more, by all means, do more. But trying to do everything at once often leads to being able to do little if anything at all.

Most beginning entrepreneurs dream of becoming successful enough to make a difference, but the more successful they become, the more complicated that seems. One of the best things you can do as a socially conscious entrepreneur is to surround yourself with people, business partners, consumers, employees, who hold you accountable to your principles. Remember that the more powerful and successful you become, the more responsibility you have. Practice these tips and you can use that success to make a positive impact on the world around you.

This is a guest post by Josh Elkin, founder of Best Coast Marketing a marketing agency that helps increase our clients’ traffic through organic link building. Josh enjoys writing about entrepreneurship, marketing, productivity and self-improvement.