Everyone who knows me, is familiar with my love of travel. This extends to the large number of business trips that I embark on as part of my career.
Most of my trips surround the work in relation to superyachts and aircraft, although sometimes I need to travel for more generic conferences and meetings. The yacht and aircraft shows provide a joy of being present, even if the networking is gruelling and entails long days.
Events, fairs, conferencies, parties – this can spell waking up early, looking your best throughout the business day and then extending to parties or dinners that carry on well into the night. It sounds tiring and it is. However, it is across those dinner tables and at that bar, that many business deals are closed. Collaborations commence over a slight conversation, or becoming comfortable in each other’s company at a party.
Over the years, I have made many friends from the yacht and aircraft sectors. These professionals are industry counterparts and sometimes competitors. Very often, we don’t get to discuss business – because we are competing. Then, one day you get a call, an enquiry and suddenly you are in business together. It will start with one small task and eventually expand to bigger things.
In all, I will have had nine business trips by the end of 2024 and look forward to more. To me, it’s an opportunity to get off my desk and bring in some business. Another way of looking at it is the brand awareness: putting my company’s name out there. There is tough competition out there: sitting at one’s desk will not bring in new customers and the influx of new business is a healthy flow that needs to be continuous.
Here’s to more and more – networking, networking, networking.
