A Female Entrepreneur's Guide to Traveling Solo
By Jessica Wise
Two weeks later, I’m still on a high from my solo vacation to Miami. If you follow us on Instagram, you’ll see I let Audacity go dark for a few days so I could enjoy myself in real time.
It is the best thing I could have done for myself.
Did I feel guilty at first for leaving my business unattended? Sure. After an entire quarter of rebranding and piloting this magazine 100 percent on my own, I knew there was still a lot to be done. But I also knew my business deserved the best of me. In order to achieve that, I needed to get away and reset, even if that meant doing it the way I do almost everything else – on my own.
If you are a female entrepreneur, I encourage you to take a solo vacation at least once a year. Your spirit and your business will thank you. Whether you take a staycation at your local hotel or run off to another country, here are my tips for making the most of your getaway:
Just GO.
The first step for any female business owner trying to get away is to just DO IT. Stop waiting on your friends, your siblings, your cousins, your partner, or anybody else. Waiting on others to agree on details, pay their share, and RSVP will leave you high, dry, and annoyed. When you’re an entrepreneur, chances are you don’t have a lot of free time to play around with. Traveling solo is the best way to make sure your trip actually happens.
Delegate early.
Once you book your trip, let your team know. Establish a point-of-contact or second in command, or pass the load to your partners if you have any. Then make a list of specs and procedures you’ll need covered. The sooner your team is aware, the better chance they have of being successful while you’re gone.
Plan ahead and do your research.
I get it. The point of taking off for a few days is to be spontaneous. But going into an unfamiliar city blind can be dangerous, especially for a woman traveling alone. Know where the tourist areas are and how to get around. If you plan on taking public transportation, locate the station or stop closest to your hotel or rental.
Most importantly, make a plan for getting to and from the airport if you plan on flying. Airports are hotspots for human trafficking, especially in the ground transportation and rideshare areas.
Leave your laptop. Take your business cards.
Setting boundaries on yourself will help you enjoy your trip. Leave your computer at home to stay removed from the heavy lifting of your business. Anything that can’t be done within five minutes on a smartphone can wait.
Still, you never know who you’ll meet while traveling. Take a few business cards and follow up with any potential contacts after your trip.
Stick to what you know for lodging.
Take it from someone who has learned the hard way. Do NOT deviate from the hotels you trust, unless you’re raising the bar. Going from the Embassy Suites to the Ritz-Carlton makes sense. Going from the Embassy Suites to the boutique hotel you booked blind on a third party app? Not so much.
When booking hotels, franchises are always best, because they have corporate standards to keep them accountable. Local boutique hotels can be a hit or miss, and you don’t want to miss when you’re on your own. If you want to support local hotels, have a meal at their in-house restaurant or check out their bar. Then you can scope them out and consider booking a room next time.
Preschedule your content before you leave.
Unless you’re using your trip for content, your audience shouldn’t even realize you’re gone. Put your scheduler to use and prep all your content the week before.
Be safe but be open.
As women, we’re always told not to trust people when we’re out and about. The same rules apply when traveling alone. Guard your drinks and always keep a portable phone charger with you.
That doesn’t mean you have to isolate yourself though! Surrounding yourself with other tourists and people with common interests will keep you social and safe. Go to a tasting, join a tour, or take a class. You can enjoy the time with the people in your group, and you’ll be able to trust them to take your picture without running off with your phone. For meals, sit at the bar and chat it up with the local mixologist. They’ll be friendly enough to keep you entertained and busy enough to give you your space. Buddying up with a fellow tourist also makes you less likely to be targeted by predators, even if it’s just for a few minutes.
Trust your team.
If your entire company can crash without you in just a few days, you need to reevaluate who’s working for you. It also means you have some serious micromanaging issues to address. The takes it all on, does it herself, superwoman trope is played out. Real superwomen know how to build a great team they can trust to carry the load in their absence. Sure, nobody can do your job the way you do, but you shouldn’t want them to. You want a team who can contribute their unique ideas and show you things you hadn’t considered, not a bunch of yes-people and clones of yourself. You’re not doing them or your business any favors by not letting them take the reigns in your absence. If anything, you’re handicapping them. Trust your team to keep things going, so you can vacation in peace.
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