The struggles of a tech entrepreneur don’t end with trying to raise money from VC funds, working as a liaison between every single department, talking to customers, suppliers, vendors, lease agents, you name it. Entrepreneurs also need to travel to get the word out about their product and most importantly meet with potential partners in the tech space. Traveling takes a lot of time and here we try to spread some wisdom about the travel hacks we have developed through the past few years. Traveling successfully doesn’t just happen, if you're an entrepreneur that travels chances are that you already know there’s a huge need for some advance planning. And with that in mind, here are some great hacks for making the most of the time you spend traveling:
Reduce the Stress with Time-Saving Apps:
You have probably found yourself spending more time in the air or on the road than in your office, so why not use those minutes booking another flight to another city, making hotel reservations or searching for directions; they are pretty useful online services and apps like Google Flights, to help you draw a quick baseline for the cost of flights or TripIt, for managing all those confirmation emails accumulating on your Inbox.
Renting a Car? Really? Try Using Services like ShuttleWizard.com:
Renting a car makes you lose valuable time by having to walk all across the airport to where you need to rent it, talking to the agents, waiting for the car, and, not to mention, driving towards your destination after long hours on a plane. Shuttle services like ShuttleWizard.com are a far better alternative; they will pick you up as soon as you get off the plane. They offer booking the service in advance, plus you get to select the pickup location and desired time. Cars are a lot nicer and there is also no danger of getting lost or looking for parking!
Find Hotel Accommodations Online:
Take some time to look for hotels using online services like lastminute.com or (my favorite) airbnb.com. Surf their website before getting into your flight or while you're in the car; this way you can save your time and save you money when travelling.
And now that we are talking about flights, try…
Purchasing Plane Tickets Online:
Good places to do it are Expedia and Kayak. This way you will have your boarding pass ready on your phone to avoid arriving late and miss your flight. Be sure to do it at least one day in advance.
Improve your time management in terms of travel by embracing all of these great tech tools, try finding out which one works for you, consult other entrepreneurs about what apps and online services they prefer, and start making your business traveling as efficiently as possible.
