I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
How to make the most of every business trip
Hi Reader,
I’ve recently been on tour with Rachel Rodgers as we host creator meetups and record live episodes of our Billion Dollar Creator podcast (view tour dates and cities here).
Episode 5 with Sahil Bloom that we recorded in New York City is now out. We talked about building creator agencies to $10 million per year.
I’m always thinking about how to make the most of my time traveling. I find a lot of people will travel out of state to attend an event and not do much more than go to the event.
But there are so many things you can do to make the most of your time on a business trip. Here are a few ways I like to make the most of my time when I travel for work:
1. Individual Meetings
Whenever I travel to a city, I make a list in advance of people who live there that I want to connect with. This list includes both customers and potential customers.
Usually, I'll have 4-5 meetings in each city. These are typically breakfast, coffee, or a walk.
Whether someone becomes a customer or not, it’s always worth taking the time to deepen relationships. Often, I’ll meet people who I’ve known for years online but have never met in person.
2. Podcast interviews
Lots of podcasts are recorded remotely, but there’s something about the energy when you record in person.
I have two podcast-related goals when I’m visiting a city:
- Book guests for my podcast and interview them in person
- Record with local hosts as a guest on their podcast
For interviewing guests on my show, I’ll either have my team bring our mobile recording setup or book some studio time.
If the event is a conference, I might record 4-5 episodes since there are so many creators there.
3. Mastermind
The mastermind we host at our conference, Craft + Commerce, has long been a favorite of attendees. Some will fly out just for the mastermind even if they aren’t able to stay for the whole conference.
I like to invite about 20 creators to a half-day mastermind where we can teach on flywheels and building businesses.
Aside from learning new things and solving business problems, this is a great opportunity for top-level creators to connect with each other and build bigger businesses through things like partnering together or simply recommending each other’s newsletters.
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4. Creator Meetup
The last three events I mentioned are small and invite-only. The mastermind, for instance, is a more intimate group where we hand-pick people we think would be a good fit.
But aside from those events, I host a creator meetup that is open to everyone to try to get as many great creators together as possible.
Attendees are also able to watch the live recording of our podcast, and since they all just listened to the same conversation, discussion naturally flows at the meetup.
5. Live podcast
At the meetup, we record a live episode of Billion Dollar Creator. While many of our episodes feature just me and Rachel, the live episodes we record on tour usually include a special guest.
Featuring a local guest provides entertainment and education, helps draw a crowd (when they invite their audience to join), and creates great content for the community.
6. Dinners
Lastly, I try to host at least one group dinner for people I want to meet with. I’m not always able to connect with everyone I want to meet individually, and sometimes people can't make it to one of the other events. Others simply feel that a low-key dinner is more their speed.
These dinners are less intense than a mastermind but more intimate than a meetup.
On a two-night trip, I can usually hit 5 out of 6 items on this list. That means connecting closely with dozens of creators and broadly with 100+ creators. This maximizes my time for every day I'm away from my family, giving me a huge amount of value for only a few days away from home.
I hope this gave you some ideas for how to make the most of your next business trip!
—Nathan
Nathan Barry
I'm a designer who turned into a writer who turned into a startup CEO. My mission is to help creators earn a living. Subscribe for essays on building an audience and earning a living as a creator.
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