How To Create The Perfect Business Travel Schedule. Even the most seasoned business travelers know that the perfect business travel schedule is a constant balancing act. On the one hand, you want to fit as many meetings and appointments into your itinerary as possible. On the other hand, you don’t want to sacrifice your well-being in the process. To find the perfect balance, you need a strategy. The good news is that with just a little planning and some common sense tips, creating the perfect business travel schedule shouldn’t be too difficult for even the most inexperienced business person. Read on for more insights on creating your ideal business travel schedule.
What you need to know before creating your schedule
– When to travel – Schedule your travel in advance, and avoid peak travel times, like during the holidays. Also, avoid the months of August, September, October, and April if you can. – Where to travel – If possible, choose a destination that’s a little off the beaten path—but still relatively accessible. (For example, a destination in California rather than Las Vegas.) – What dates to travel – For the most effectiveness, your travel dates need to follow a consistent pattern. This means you’d do well to avoid traveling during the week of a holiday.
Use Google Calendar to build your schedule.
Google Calendar is an essential tool for anyone who needs to keep track of several activities or appointments. If you don’t already have it, get it first. Once you have it, you can use it to build your schedule. Here are the best practices for using Google Calendar to build your business travel schedule. – Create a “Meeting” calendar item for each meeting, conference call, or appointment. – Create a “Reminder” calendar item for each appointment you need to keep track of in advance. – Create a “Notes” calendar item for any other notes on a meeting or appointment you want to keep track of.
Assign In-Office Meetings and Calls
You can create a Google Calendar “Meeting” item whenever you have a meeting at your company’s office. In addition to your co-workers, you can add other people to your calendar item, like the outside consultant you’ll be meeting with or the client you’ll be meeting with for a consult. You can create a “Call” item when you have a client or vendor calling you out of the blue. You can also create a “Calendar” item for any other calls you want to keep track of as they come up in your day.
You can use the “Reminder” option for any meeting you need to keep track of in advance. You can use the “Due na” option to create a calendar item that is automatically turned into a reminder after a certain amount of time has passed. You can use the “Repeat” option to create a calendar item that will repeat every X amount of times. For example, you can create a meeting item that says, “Meeting with XYZ Consultant at noon on May 1st.” You can create a calendar item that says “May 1st at midnight” and associate it with “Meeting with XYZ Consultant.” You can add the item to your calendar whenever you have a meeting, reminding you to be there at the stated time.
Establish Out-Of-Office Hours
You might have noticed from the beginning of this article that the perfect business travel schedule requires skipping meals and drinking plenty of water. While these are essential for your well-being when traveling for business, they may also be a hassle when traveling for work. Luckily, you can create an “Out of Office” message on your email account to let your clients and colleagues know when you’re not available to receive their messages or calls. Office messages can also be helpful when you’re traveling. You can create a message stating that you’ll be out of the office for an extended time. This lets your colleagues and clients know when you won’t be available for messages or calls and prevents them from calling or sending a message to an “out of office” inbox.
Don’t skip meals, and drink plenty of water.
Meal skips, coffee breaks, and sips of water are essential for your well-being. Business travel, however, often places them in a potential hassle when you’re on the road for work. Fortunately, there are ways to work around these potential issues. Working on a laptop? Look for a hotel with free wifi, or opt for a room with an actual desk. Need to take a break from eating? Invest in a small, portable water bottle, or bring a few snacks with you that don’t need to be refrigerated. Need to take a break from sipping water? If you’re on a business trip, your frequent-flyer program may let you borrow a co-worker’s toothbrush to brush your teeth.
Avoiding busy hours and weekends
Keep these tips in mind as you build your perfect business travel schedule. Start your business travel in the mornings. This gives you the most “bang for your buck” in travel time. End your business travel in the evenings. This gives you the most hours in a day before you need to get up for work in the morning and the least travel time in the process. Travel during off-peak times. This allows you to travel during less busy times. Stay away from weekends. This can be especially tricky since they contain both Friday and Sunday, which are less busy than other days and potentially less productive.
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Conclusion
The key to a successful business travel schedule is planning, researching your travel options, and keeping yourself hydrated and fed while on the road. Once you’ve done all these things, your perfect business travel schedule will be a breeze. This gives you the most “bang for your buck” in travel time. End your business travel in the evenings. This gives you the most hours in a day before you need to get up for work in the morning and the least travel time in the process. Travel during off-peak times. This allows you to travel during less busy times. Stay away from weekends. This can be especially tricky since they contain both Friday and Sunday, which are less busy than other days and potentially less productive.