If there was ever a year for me to take every opportunity to travel, it would be 2009. I’m still young, soon-to-be divorced, and able to work remotely. It’s the last part that becomes complicated. How effective am I really for our team sitting in a hotel on my laptop on the other side of the world? Does it add any value, or just increase complexity and slow down productivity?
This question has been on my mind a lot lately, as I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to speak all over the place in 2009 from San Francisco to Manila, Istanbul, New Zealand, Hong Kong and beyond.
The question is, who gets the most value from these opportunities? It could be argued that I’m out there, hitting the pavement, evangelizing our company – spreading the word. It could also be argued that my time is better served actually working at the office, and that these opportunities would bring more value to me personally than it would bring to our company.
What’s the best way to make these decisions? How do you quantify results from these sort of opportunities? Is it dumb to even worry about results?
I would love to visit each and every one of those places. Meet local people, eat local food, experience local life. Clearly that has more to do with my not-so-secret desire to be Anthony Bourdain, but will 30-60 minutes of my time to speak provide any level of measurable result for our company, or is it simply a work-for-play trade-off to fulfill a personal desire?
Help a brother out…
11 Comments
But, if you don’t go what will they tell the people of Istanbul breathlessly waiting to hear your words of wisdom and hope? You’re the Obama of t-shirt empires.
Simple solution: go on a trip for a few weeks and see how much your absence really effects skinnycorp if no biggie u r golden. Feel free to travel the world with no regrets. if your absence is noticable then you have no choice. You need to rock out on home court so you can make enough cashes to buy your own country :)
Just do it. Don’t try to justify it. You live once. You’ve created a great company. You don’t know what kind of random impact your travels will have, but have confidence they’ll pay off. Go!
Dude, I say just go for what you can and when you can. If you end up not doing any of it then you’ll regret it. So, I guess I’m saying, you should weigh up the pros and cons of each place and see which places you would definitely want to go to and so on. Working remotely for part of the time wouldn’t hurt as much – and you could possibly use 2009 as the test year for working remotely half way about the globe!
It would be ace regardless, eh :).
Thing to ask is, what value do you add by being ‘in the office’ rather than ‘working’.. I stopped working in an office about 9 years ago, because a) my 25 hour a week communte into london nearly gave me a heart attack and cost a small fortune. And b) I didn’t need to be there. b is more important. Do you need ot be present – as in sat next to everyone else? or can you influence, decide, manage and work remotely, wherever that might be? You’ll have an incredible amount of work to do, as do most of us these days, and it’ll get done, on time, and in good shape – because it always does.
The only other thing to consider is how much you can let your team get on with it. you’re a smart guy, you have a good team. let ‘em do what they’re good at and paid to do..
You’ll be able to give them and the company (and hence its customers), by getting out there and experiencing more.
I know where I’d rather be: random hotel, somewhere new, eating new people, seeing new things, than staring at the same old walls everyday.
Maybe you’ve worked your ass off for years to be successful and happy, and your reward is that you get to do this for work, and have these opportunities in front of you? And that the whole “fulfilling personal desire” thing is just something that gets to be a part of your life because something actually works out well once in awhile? I mean, I know we haven’t talked in over ten years probably, but that’s just what I think…
Maybe you’ve worked your ass off for years to be successful and happy, and your reward is that you get to do this for work, and have these opportunities in front of you? And that the whole “fulfilling personal desire” thing is just something that gets to be a part of your life because something actually works out well once in awhile? I mean, I know we haven’t talked in over ten years probably, and I totally don’t know what your job is or what you do ever, but that’s just what I think…
does the 60 minutes have a quantifiable return is surely your answer. It really doesn’t matter whether you are at an office or using 60 minutes ‘off site’ its what you ‘do’ in those 60 minutes which must equal or outweigh what you be doing in the office.
does the 60 minutes have a quantifiable return is surely your answer. It really doesn’t matter whether you are at an office or using 60 minutes ‘off site’ its what you ‘do’ in those 60 minutes which must equal or outweigh what you be doing in the office.
Maybe you’ve worked your ass off for years to be successful and happy, and your reward is that you get to do this for work, and have these opportunities in front of you? And that the whole “fulfilling personal desire” thing is just something that gets to be a part of your life because something actually works out well once in awhile? I mean, I know we haven’t talked in over ten years probably, and I totally don’t know what your job is or what you do ever, but that’s just what I think…
as someone who has been working from home for close to 8 years, and who considers myself extremely productive 24-7, i find face time with co-workers as well as new contacts infinitely important.
while your time might be well served at the office, or at home.. traveling and meeting new people.. getting new perspectives from strangers on your work, will inform your future in infinitely productive ways.
nothing wrong with having fun along the way too! all work and no play makes jeffery a dull boy.