How traveling benefits your business.
Me giving the “OK” hand signal, the first one that divers learn. A “demand-response” signal, is used to ask if other divers are okay, and they must also use it as a response to your inquiry. Photo courtesy of Holly Martel Bourbon, Baltimore National Aquarium
9 Reasons Why Every Entrepreneur Should Travel
As a small business owner based in the U.S., I spend a lot of time acquiring and maintaining a steady flow of client work. The thought of taking time away to travel can be fraught with uncertainty. “Can I afford to do this?”
I mention that I’m American because often people from other countries, especially western Europe, take a lot more days off than we do. We have a Parisian client who moved here a couple of years ago. She said to me “All you people think about is work!” “Uh yea, pretty much.” The message in the American culture during my formative years was to be self-reliant, have ambition, and work hard to achieve the American Dream.
Younger people are more exposed to the “work/life balance” concept, and although pre-pandemic we espoused #hustleharder, #sidehustle and #leanin, post-pandemic, our collective mindset is changing. We realize that family time and experiences are more valuable than the grind. The internet, social media, and climate change all play a part in that mind shift too.
“Only one who wanders finds new paths.”
Hit the Road or Hit a Wall
Since the worst of the pandemic ended in early 2022, I’ve been wanting to hit the road. I have to. As a visual designer, if I don’t travel, my mood and outlook become sullen and my skills become stale. I need to be inspired, challenged, observant, surprised, inconvenienced, and even confused. It’s like electroshocks to the brain producing the vital pathways to creative thought!
3,950 miles driven in 12 days minus the 3 days in New Orleans for Mardi Gras. That’s a lot of road-tripping through eastern and middle America with the fam.
1: Traveling builds memory milestones.
As long as I can remember, my brain organizes time by where I went in a given year. The longer and more adventurous the trip, the better my episodic memory. If I don’t travel, I literally have no visuals to anchor my memories to.
The simple act of anticipating and planning travel makes me happy too. I’m not the only one. This study, The Journal of Vacation Marketing, done in the UK 20 years ago juxtapositioned a holiday planning group vs. a non-holiday planning group. Guess which one was happier? Yep, the holiday planning people.
Last year during the winter break, I noticed my son, a senior in college, strategizing how he was going to drive 15+ hours from Ann Arbor to New Orleans alone. He’d realized that his final spring break coincided with Mardi Gras and although he’d tried to recruit his roommates, they already had plans. I’d never been to New Orleans during Mardi Gras so I volunteered to be a co-pilot.
We cajoled my husband and daughter to join us and decided we’d leave from Northern Virginia making stops along the way which included Atlanta, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama.
2: Traveling furthers awareness of usability.
At Vortex Grill in Little Five Points, Atlanta, Ga. I could barely read the mobile menu.
One of the first things I noticed is that many restaurants had eliminated their paper menus and replaced them with a QR code to alleviate the spreading of the virus. But they didn’t convert their online menu to be mobile-friendly.
I’d scan the code which linked to a print layout that was microscopic on my phone. Combine the tiny type with poor lighting and I couldn’t read a thing. I’d squint out a menu item and hope for the best.
The further south we went, the fewer COVID restrictions we encountered. It was unclear when to don a face mask and/or show an ID and vax card. By the time we got to New Orleans, you’d have thought there was never a pandemic. Since Mardi Gras had been canceled in 2021, the 2022 revelers were wasting no time getting wasted!
We were all vaccinated, had had COVID and the weather was mild, so we weren’t too paranoid about being outside with the hordes. But attending the biggest party on earth at the end of a pandemic may not have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done. Luckily, we emerged from the bayou unscathed.
3: Traveling fills in what schooling left out.
In the last several years, my husband and I have made an effort to better understand the history of slavery and racism in the U.S. While in Atlanta, we visited the King Center and the home where Martin Luther King grew up.
We also went to the top of Stone Mountain, a nature trail with a spectacular panoramic view and a very controversial monument to the Confederacy.
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was shot on the balcony of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Little Rock Nine were the nine African-American students involved in the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School.
A two-day-long massacre took place between May 31 – June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents, attacked black residents and destroyed homes and businesses in the Greenwood District in Tulsa, OK.
Nkyinkim by Kwame Akoto-Bamfo at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice that opened in 2018 in Montgomery, Alabama.
The memorial has 805 hanging steel rectangles, representing each of the counties in the U.S. where a documented lynching took place. This link walks the entire exhibit.
While traveling in the midwest, we went to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where MLK was assassinated and spent the day at the Civil Rights Museum across the street. I recommend the museum for its in-depth exhibits that trace the history of the civil rights movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present, especially with regard to the economics of slavery and how it still impacts us.
On our way from Memphis to OKC, we stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas where a guide shared the story of the Little Rock Nine at Central High School, the site of forced desegregation in 1957 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation by race in public schools was unconstitutional three years earlier.
And we’ve walked through the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, the site of a race massacre in 1921. I’d never even heard of this horrific event until I saw it in the Watchmen series on HBO.
Since Montgomery, Alabama was en route to New Orleans I wanted to visit The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.
I’d seen it featured on 60 minutes and was moved by the visceral, truth-telling of lynching, racial terror, and its legacy.
As a second-generation American whose grandparents originally came from Ireland and Italy, all I knew about slavery as a child was Uncle Remus, singing Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah in Disney’s feature film Song of the South.
Then the mini-series Roots came out in the mid-’70s and revealed a brutality that was much closer to reality.
But lynching? Although I was never taught about it in school, I’d come to believe that lynchings were isolated incidents perpetrated by a tiny fringe group of radicals in white hoods, who were sought out and punished.
What I learned by coming here is how inaccurate that was. This site memorializes over 4200 public lynchings (many more occurred but can’t be verified by records) but more importantly puts context into the reason and effect of the lynchings.
The effect of these lynchings was to terrorize and subjugate a “free” black population. Many were public spectacles witnessed by thousands in the communities where the victims lived.
And the lack of prosecutions of the perpetrators, intimidation of surviving family members and inaction, or worse, cooperation, of law enforcement amplified the traumatic effect on black communities, which still reverberates today.
The memorial is so powerful I would encourage you to take the trip and go to the part of our country where this legacy was most intensely felt. Phillip Kennicott, an architectural critic for the Washington Post wrote an in-depth review to read further.
Other than destinations mentioned in the post we also stopped in Auburn, De Moines, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Columbus where we purchased a State Capitol Building stamp book. Now we’re actively doubling back to every state and visiting its capital to get the stamp. We also like to buy magnets and Xmas ornaments.
4. Traveling reveals the local lore
After Mardi Gras, we headed back north to drop our son off at school. (See our map at the top of the post). Along the way, we visited several state capitals and state capitol buildings. We always sign up for the guided tour because they share behind-the-scenes stories and local lore about the building, city and state that isn’t widely known.
This summer we drove to Annapolis, Dover, Trenton, Albany, Montpelier and Hartford state capitol buildings to get the stamps for our newly acquired state capitol book. (see caption)
Each tour gave me a greater understanding of how our country came to be, each state with its own trials, tribulations and economies. One thing is certain, the United States has always been at odds with the concept of “united.”
“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”
Flying High Again
5. Travel builds confidence and new skills
I love domestic travel, but find foreign travel even more effective at clearing out the doldrums of routine—especially if the destination is not predominantly English-speaking.
I, like 75% of native-born Americans, speak only English. And although I know a bit of Spanish, Italian and German from high school and college, I can only read not converse. I enjoy being in places where other languages are spoken.
Me and my husband standing on the pier ready to do a bio-fluorescent night dive, where specialized UV lights and mask filters are used to bring out the natural fluorescent colors of underwater life.
Both my husband and I are certified scuba divers for close to 30 years but haven’t dived since before COVID. So this past spring when I received an email from Atlantic Edge, a local area dive shop, about diving in Bonaire, a Dutch island in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela, I was intrigued.
What piqued my interest is what we would be doing in Bonaire; becoming certified Reef Renewal divers and expanding our knowledge of conservation with assistance from the expert staff from the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
Becoming a certified reef renewal volunteer meant learning what coral is made of, what’s killing it, and finally how to propagate new corals in nurseries to restore the degraded reef. It required taking on-land interactive, hands-on lessons and skills practice.
One of the takeaways was learning that sunscreen is a factor in coral bleaching. 10% of the world’s coral reefs are potentially threatened by sunscreen that contains oxybenzone and octinoxate that washes off swimmers. It’s best to use reef-safe mineral-based sunscreen that utilizes zinc and titanium for full-spectrum UVA/UVB protection. Who knew?
My PADI Reef Renewal Diver card!
Then we suited up for the 3-dive course, where we cleaned the coral nurseries while honing our buoyancy skills, (not easy!) Pruned the coral pieces then tied them to the armatures to grow. Once pieces are big enough, we zip-tie those pieces to ocean floor armatures where the pieces grow together forming a man-made reef that is more resistant to warmer temperatures and diseases.
In the 6 days we were there, we did 17 dives (15.5 hours of bottom time) all around the Bonaire National Marine Park which harbors 57 species of hard stony and soft corals and over 350 species of reef fish.
Sunscreen that contains oxybenzone and octinoxate is a factor in bleaching coral. It’s best to use reef-safe mineral-based sunscreen that utilizes zinc and titanium.
Dive Masters Aitzol, Rob, and Max teach the reef renewal certification course at Buddy Dive Center in Bonaire. Photo courtesy of Deirdre Crowley.
Large staghorn coral on the Christmas tree armatures. Photo courtesy of Holly Martel Bourbon, Baltimore National Aquarium
Maintaining my buoyancy and cleaning the coral armatures. Photo courtesy of Holly Martel Bourbon, Baltimore National Aquarium
Coral armatures on the ocean floor. Photo courtesy of Holly Martel Bourbon, Baltimore National Aquarium
Megan, Beth and Holly of the Baltimore National Aquarium with us divers from Maryland and Virginia.
“The timing of this dive is incredibly specific: Five days after a full moon after sunset but before the moon rises, within minutes of complete darkness. Did I mention it requires diving in total darkness (w/o a dive light) to get to where they are located? ”
6. Travel creates once-in-a-lifetime experiences
This is a screen grab from an online video of ostracods spawning. It’s difficult to photograph this subtle, magical process because any light source impedes it. You just have to see with your own eyes!
A highlight was a night dive to see the magical underwater fireworks of the Ostracods, tiny creatures that belong to the crustacea family and are only a few millimeters long. They swim into shallow water to mate and glow to attract a partner.
The timing to do this dive is incredibly specific: Five days after a full moon after sunset but before the moon rises, within minutes of complete darkness. Did I mention it requires diving in total darkness (without a dive light) to get to where they are located?
Being out of one’s own comfort zone is an understatement! I’m proud of myself for not letting fear derail me going.
Bonaire salt flats are at the south of the island. Here some of the purest salt in the world is produced by the salt, the sea and wind.
7. Travel exposes us to location-specific products
Our client gift this year…but of coarse. (pun intended)
We also explored the southeastern end of the island known for its distinctive line of white salt pyramids. Ever since the Dutch arrived in 1636 salt has been harvested from the salt ponds in the South of Bonaire. Each pyramid is 50 feet high and contains 10k metric tons of pure salt.
The way the salt is harvested on Bonaire is called 'sea salt sun dried'. Most salt from Bonaire now is exported for industrial use so unless you go there, it’s not easy to get salt from Bonaire. But since I was there, I thought it would make a lovely client gift to give this year. So if you’re a DP client, expect some salty season greetings from the Caribbean!
“Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before”
Your Mindset Creates Your Success
8. Traveling changes your perspective
Travel is something we all had to look at very differently in the last two and half years. For the first time in our lives, seeing the wide world became a public health risk. But now, with vaccines available, people feel more comfortable traveling than a year ago.
The act of traveling can hit the reset button. Suddenly, you get home and you start to see your neighborhood not just as a resident, but as someone who carries with them all the visual customs of a completely different place.
There’s only one you! When you take care of yourself, you’re taking care of your long-term professional vision, too. So the perspective that travel can bring to you is something you can translate directly into how you conduct yourself within the context of your business.
9. Traveling changes your work
I created a fun design with the Arlington neighborhood names and locations in the shape of the county. I was inspired by Hartford Prints, a gift shop in Hartford that creates local art to show pride in their city.
When my husband and I did a road trip to visit the east coast capitals this past summer, we stopped in Hartford, CT. We visited Hartford Prints, a local gift store that designs its own stickers, art prints, magnets, cards, and more. It is such a cute store it inspired me to start creating local art too.
For now, it’s a limited store on our website but it could become a recurring source of income or a vibrant business on its own. The point is I saw it on vacation and it inspired me.
Tangible benefits delineated
So, you might be asking, what does this really have to do with running a business? Traveling is great and all, but what are the tangible benefits?
Since I’m a designer I’ll correlate the stated benefits to my work outcomes specifically:
1: Traveling builds memory milestones. Each place I travel to informs my design solutions depending upon the location of the client and/or their customers. I take a lot of photos of logos, signage, street art, murals, museums, memorials, architecture, landscapes, and cityscapes. I’m constantly refreshing my ideas and references. I often look back at all my visual assets to glean ideas for current work. I can’t imagine what my work would look like if I never left the DMV. (DC, Maryland, Virginia)
2: Traveling furthers awareness of usability. The difference between fine art and graphic art is visual communication. If a design solution is unclear and fails to communicate, it’s no longer design, but art. I’m always aware of this distinction. I’m hired to communicate visually for my clients. If the intended user isn’t able to comprehend, read, act upon, purchase, or learn from what I’ve created, I’ve failed. Usability is everything. Traveling magnifies that.
3: Traveling fills in what schooling left out. The more I know, the more options come to mind for visual solutions. I was recently talking with a potential client who wants us to create a graphic for her podcast. She is African-American and passionate about getting guests on her program that aren’t often heard. Through my aforementioned civil rights exploration, I have an empathy and awareness that will inform my concepts to align with her voice and vision.
4. Traveling reveals the local lore. We, humans, are nuanced and complex and so much of our local environment and its history informs the way we act. Traveling helps me to be an excellent listener. Each time a client talks, I know there is an in-depth history there and it’s up to me to ask the right questions and to listen for the answers. Often I interpret what is said as it may not reveal itself straight away.
5. Travel builds confidence and new skills. When I don’t try new things, I lose the confidence to be nimble and pivot. Being in a field that changes rapidly, being flexible and open to new ideas is vital. Of course that comes with a healthy dose of being consistent too. You can’t get good at something without trying it. You don’t become an expert though until you’ve mastered and failed at it over and over again.
6. Travel creates once-in-a-lifetime experiences. To be able to experience things for the first time is to see through the eyes of others. I always want to be able to surprise and delight our clients. It’s honestly what I live for. But I have to know what that feels likes too.
7. Travel exposes us to location-specific products. Because of the internet, we can get almost anything from anywhere now. To find locally-sourced items from faraway places that I’ve actually been to and then be able to share them with others is really special. To receive something that can’t be easily purchased through the internet feels good too.
8. Traveling changes your perspective. 99% of our clients are American. Although it would be nice to have more international clients, I know that my expertise in how businesses operate in the U.S. is an asset. If I can bring some international perspectives back home and integrate them into my solutions for my fellow entrepreneurs, that’s a valuable addition to my toolbox.
9. Traveling changes your work. Knowing what it feels like to be in an unfamiliar environment and needing answers happens often when you travel. I’m always looking at how things are communicated; signage, exhibits, substrates, typography, sizes, and colors.
All this experience informs how we design; prioritize easily understood iconography, design and web content so clients feel understood and confident that we can solve their visual communication problems and guide them expertly as they embark on their online journey.
Conclusion “Just Go Already!”
Traveling is something that is fundamentally good for human beings. Like in all things worth doing, there may be risks or struggles, but with an open mind and detailed preparation, you could have an experience that changes you for the better and allows you to shift your perspective in a way that benefits you as a professional and as a member of society.
At Design Powers, we are firm believers in the importance and the power of travel. We know how big an impact it’s made in our lives, so we strongly encourage you to “Just Go Already!”
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All photos included in this post, except where noted, is property of Design Powers and cannot be used without permission.
