How Mike Operates His Business While Traveling

Mike DeHaan: [0:01] Welcome to the collecting keys Friday focus. What is going on, guys? I am back stateside and so excited to be recording this Friday focus for you today, or I guess this week. If you guys are new here, my name is Mike DeHaan. And if you guys have been around for a while or you follow me on Instagram at mike underscore invest, you know that I have been traveling for the past couple of weeks through Portugal and have kind of been, I guess, slightly off the grid, doing my thing. When I go traveling, really like to dive in as much as I can. And, you know, it's a big part of my life. It's a big reason that I got out of the sort of w two grind was to be able to travel when I wanted, how I wanted. And, you know, this was my first big trip of the year. And I have a couple more coming up as well before the end of twenty twenty three. But anyways, super sad to be back, and I appreciate you all joining with me today for this episode of the collecting keys Friday focus. So if this is your first time checking out one of these episodes, on these Friday episodes, we like to do a deep dive on either a question that we've received from a listener or a member of our instant investor program or just, you know, do a little bit of a longer monologue talk on something that is currently on Dan or I's mind. And on this episode, since I just got back from a trip overseas, I wanted to do a dive into a very regular question that I get, which is how exactly do I operate my business while I am traveling abroad and I am sort of living this lifestyle that allows me to do such things? It's a question that I get very often from, you know, new new followers, people that have known me for a while. They see me posting on Instagram about all different things.

Mike DeHaan: [1:46] And one of the biggest things that I find is most people do not understand sort of how to set their businesses to even allow them to do that. And, know, they're always looking for guidance. So, you know, it's a very very regular question that I get. So I'm just gonna go into all the details here, suggestions for how you can set it up to be able to live like I do, and, you know, do with it what you will after it. So first thing I'll say on this topic is that it is not an easy thing to kinda do. Right? I am never in a situation when I'm traveling, why I'm like completely disconnected and kinda just like screwing around. K. I always have my phone on me for in case things do come up. A big thing about switching to entrepreneurship is that, you know, your business kind of becomes a part of your life, and not something that you have to do to be able to live your life for most people. And so when I am traveling as a business owner, it's not like I'm going on vacation as a w two employee, where work just kinda gets pushed aside, and I get to just like dink around for an extra time. Right? So I'm I'm always like slightly on, and I'm okay with that. I know there's a lot of people on Instagram that will sell this like, oh, just to have this self operating business that prints money. I've yet to meet an actual successful person who has that as a real thing unless they are very, very, very successful.

Mike DeHaan: [3:04] But for most of us who are still kind of in that small business, you know, more under seven figures, like couple 7 figures sort of business range, you still need to be available for your business. Right? At any sort of moments notice when stuff does come up. So that's the first thing I wanna emphasize is that it's not easy. And really what it comes down to is setting up, you know, systems and routines and teams that allow you to work simultaneously while traveling without having it to completely overwhelm your trip. Okay? And that does take a little bit of practice and a lot of intention. So there are several ways to do this. The great thing is with modern technology, it's not like insanely difficult. It's not like you have to plan to be spending time at the, you know, the business suite or whatever they call them of like your hotels. You guys remember when they used to have that hotels, like they would always have these little offices if you were going to use fax machines and stuff. They still exist. And the great thing is with cell phones and modern technology, is very easy to set it up so that you don't have to do anything like that. I mean, even while I was traveling, we have it set up to a point that I was able to wire some money to fund a loan while I was on a catamaran in the Mediterranean. And, you know, that's a doable thing that you can do if you set up the systems ahead of time.

Mike DeHaan: [4:19] But on top of the systems, really the most important thing that you need to establish before you travel as a business owner is kind of like a chain of command in who is going to be the go to person in charge for a situation that you are not available. This is really important if you were going somewhere that is like a very different time zone from where you were. So for example, when I was in Europe, I was nine hours off from where I am on the Pacific time zone most of the time, And so my day to day hours were very different. I'm not gonna be staying up until two in the morning to answer afternoon questions. There needs to be someone on my side that's able to do that. So I'm very fortunate in the way that I have Dan, you know, my cohost, my business partner, who has always been, you know, fortunately willing to step into that role, has made that part of it very easy for me. If you don't have a business partner or you don't have kind of like your ride or die person that can fill into that, it can be a senior team member that is bought into your business that you need to sort of get trained with those expectations. And then if you have a very small team, you just have a team of VAs, you know, you don't necessarily have like senior team members, things like that. Instead of having a determined leader, what that needs to look like is you need to sort of maintain that position, but basically establish a lot of expectations around the accountability and the ways that they will be monitored while you are gone, you know, ideally over your phone. And it needs to be something that you have, like, intervals that are done on like a regular clip, right, at regular times a day.

Mike DeHaan: [5:51] And the expectation is that they check-in with you, so that way you can at least structure your travel time around those specific points that you establish with them. Okay? And that will allow you to be the manager if you don't have like the person that could step into that role, but also being able to, I guess, be kind of intentional about the expectations with your team. Really, what this looks like is to help kinda make the oversight easier. It's just important to have documents and processes for, you know, not only your normal business systems, but also like all the potential black swan situations that can happen. At least as many of them that possibly can happen. Right? Of course, there will always be new things that come up that your team may or may not be able to handle without you being available. This is why it's important to make sure that you do have kinda like the chat and communication stuff set up for when stuff does get kinda weird. Because you know how the universe works. You know that once you are out of contact, bad things will happen. You know, it's kinda like how we all either have had this experience or know people who've had this experience of they like go on vacation, or they like are about to go on vacation, all of a sudden like a pipe burst in their house, or something bad. You know, I don't know why the universe lines up that way. It just seems to be how it is, and your business is going to be no different than that. Right?

Mike DeHaan: [7:04] And the key is to predict as many of those things as you can, and have plans about what the action steps are that the team has to do if they do happen, and have those things documented, have your team trained up on them. So that way while you are traveling, if there is stuff that you were not able to give your media attention to, they can at least hopefully like patch things together until you're able to get back in contact and addressing situations. Right? So that's really like a a really major thing. So I guess to rehash the first two things, you want to make sure that you have a person in command. You wanna make sure that you have as much of your business systems obviously documented in any of the emergency situations documented that you might be the one that has to figure out that at least team can hold stuff together. And then lastly, think kind of the most important thing is that you have to go into your trip with the understanding that things will fail in some capacity, and things will be imperfect, and you have to be okay with that. I think that's kinda like one of the most important piece of advice I can give people, is to understand that if you are going to travel, and you are going to be a business owner, you are gonna try and balance that. You know, if you are traveling, and you are expecting everything in your business to be flawless while you're gone, and like you realistically think that that will happen, congratulations. You've built a much better business than me.

Mike DeHaan: [8:25] And I'd love to know your secret. Because in the vast majority of businesses, right, when the boss is away, efficiency will drop, staff members will take kind of leniencies, opportunities will be missed by the business, you know, people will kind of screw around a bit more and not work quite as hard. And you need to kind of be okay with that and understand that that is the trade off for you being able to live the lifestyle that you wanna live. Right? And obviously, again, if you have a big business with like a ton of middlemanship, things like that, that is less likely to happen. But if you are, like most of us that are small business owners, where you are still working in your business as well as on your business, unfortunately, the truth is that things will not be optimal. And you have to just totally understand. Right? It does suck, but humans are humans. And honestly, no one will ever care about your business as much as you do. That's the unfortunate truth. So ultimately, being able to travel, like, as a business owner, it all comes out of just planning, ensuring the expectations are set with your team, ensuring that you have some form of leadership or at least like a specific way that you will be the leader that you can, you know, kinda like plan around and predict in place, and then also understanding that things will not be perfect and being okay with that. And if you can figure out those things, then honestly, you can travel as much as you want. And really, if the thought of getting out of your business makes you uncomfortable, and the thought of, you know, taking some of those risks, I guess, is like a really challenging thing on your psyche, then you probably should like try and travel while being a business owner because it will push you out of your comfort zones, and it will very likely expose a lot of the problems that you might not even realize are there. So anyways, do with all that what you will.

Mike DeHaan: [10:07] Like, really, you know, it's there's so many different ways to do it. You just have to kinda find the different parts of it that work best for you. And I think the biggest takeaway is, you know, give it a shot and don't be afraid if you kinda have to figure out some things on the fly. And, you know, understand that if you wanna start traveling as a business owner, you can every single trip, you can just try to make one or two things better, just like with everything else. And then it will get easier every time that you do it. So hopefully, you guys found some value there and something that will help you out if you also want to be able to travel, if you're looking for places to travel. I have really enjoyed over the past couple of years. I was just in Portugal, which became one of my favorite European countries in a couple of weeks I was there. But if you wanna get, you know, even more adventurous than that, we went to South Africa for a month last year, and that was probably one of my favorite destinations I've ever been to. Super beautiful area. I would always recommend anybody go and check out places that are kind of off just like the traditional western path, because it gives you a different perspective on life. And also too, it is pretty cool to be in like a safari game park around Lions, and also be checking in with your VA to make sure they're doing some work. Right? I think one of my highlights of my travel experience as a business owner was a couple years ago when I was on a cruise on the Nile River, and I signed closing documents for a flip that we're selling. And while I was on the the cruise on the Nile, I had $42,000 wired to me.

Mike DeHaan: [11:37] Oh, I was just, you know, chilling in the middle of the desert. So that that was pretty rad. And those are the kind of things that you can do if you set up your business appropriately. So hopefully, that's a little bit of inspiration for you. Anyways, guys, do that what you will. Hopefully, you got some stuff out that episode. If you want to send me a DM on Instagram, I would love to hear how you are balancing your life and travel, or a place that you've been traveling, you think are pretty cool. I'm also looking for more ideas. You can send me a DM at Mike underscore invest. Besides that, please share this with anyone else who might find this interesting, or is trying to figure out how to balance lifestyle with being an entrepreneur. I'd be happy to connect with anybody. It's one of my favorite topics to get into. So you can connect them with me as well at Mike underscore Invest, or make sure they listen to this show to hear what we're all about. And besides that, everybody, I appreciate you all, and thanks for listening. We'll talk to you all next week. Thanks for listening to this collecting keys Friday focus. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.