Business Trips for Biz Dev

Being in business development has its perks. I get to travel all over the world, meet tons of people, break bread at restaurants without knowing what I’m ordering, and experience different cultures in places I would probably never end up on my own. When else would I sit down to a plate of horse sashimi in Oyama, or drive from Koln to Brussels for breakfast to have Belgian waffles in Belgium? Probably never. Even if I were to travel to these places for vacation I would never get to see some of these places without being with the people that live there. As I prepare to leave for Shanghai and complain about the 15 hours in a plane, I cant help to think how lucky I am to have these opportunities.

As I accrue frequent flier miles faster than my coin jar fills with foreign currency I have learned a few tricks to help me deal with traveling and dealing with jet lag. Here are a few things that work for me:

Stay awake flying west and sleep flying east. As stupid as this sounds it actually helps me out a lot. Staying awake while flying west sets you up to land, get to your hotel, and pass out from the long trip so you are ready to rock the next day. Most flights to Japan from the States end up landed in the evening (Japan time). Sleeping flying east sets you up to land bright and early (about 8 or 9am) and enjoy your day with out feeling burned out from being up for 30 hours straight. Same rules apply for coming back to the states.

Books, Journals and Ipods will save your life. It is hard to sit still for 1 hour let alone 15 so you need to find a way to pass the time. Sitting there being a waste of space is simply not an option for me, so I pack an Ipod or two full of music and my Iphone full of movies for the trip. I like to bring a book or two as well, usually something about marketing, a technical journal or IEEE’s Spectrum. I also enjoy reading Fast Company and Inc.

Charge you Ipod/Iphone with your laptop on the plane. If you have had your Ipod die halfway to your destination you know it sucks, but you can solve this problem by pulling out your laptop, turning the monitor off and using its USB port to charge your gadgets enough to finish your trip.

NWA 747s are the worst. Take an Airbus 330 if you can, the seats are far nicer and they are new.

Network on the plane. Meet people. I have made several friends on flights that I talk to on a regular basis. I have even created great business opportunities while on the way to create great business opportunities.

This last year has been amazing. Over the past 365 days I have gone from engineering to program management to business development, and started a new company. As I keep learning, growing and building my skill set, I jump on any chance I get to go new places and meet new people. You would not belive the ideas you get when you see how people do things on the other side of the world.