Sbi Magazine

This article discusses crucial pointers to keep in mind when trying to travel safely on business. Make sure, before departing, that you leave copies of your travel itinerary with family and friends, in addition to necessary colleagues and assistants, so that you’re easy to locate in case of emergency. Keep your luggage secures by investing in TSA-approved padlocks or plastic locks for your baggage. If airport officials need to check your bag, they will either have access to the secure keys that TSA provides them with for getting into the padlock, or they will have to cut off your plastic lock to get inside. In either case, however, they are required to leave you a note explaining that they have in fact checked your bag – so if any of these security measures are missing, then you have adequate cause for concern and complaint in the absence of such a note.

If you rent a car, be sure to familiarize yourself as much as possible with all of its features before driving off the lot. Make sure you’re clear on how to use the locks, headlights, and hazards, and make sure you know what’s expected of you by the rental company if the car is in an accident or breaks down. To keep from getting lost in strange, unfamiliar areas, bring along a GPS or add it to your rental, keep a road map handy, or print clear directions for wherever you know you’ll need to go. If you do find yourself lost, don’t pull over to pull yourself together until you’ve found a safe, well-lit, well-populated area in which to do so.

When making your hotel reservations, request rooms that don’t face the street, since these not only tend to get the most noise, but are also the most vulnerable and susceptible to theft. Also ensure that security is on duty 24 hours daily, and make sure you know the number to reach them. Furthermore, make sure you actually utilize the resource – for instance, when walking to or from your car in especially late hours, request an escort.

Bring along only the credit cards you will need for your travels, and leave the rest at home. Also leave any credit cards you won’t need immediately behind in your hotel room. You can further protect yourself from theft by carrying your money and cards in a money belt but also carrying a dummy wallet as a potential foil. And don’t tempt potential criminals by flashing expensive clothes or accessories in places that are unfamiliar to you, especially when you’re alone. If you must dress to stun and impress, call for a cab for safe travel over walking, no matter how close your destination is to your hotel. In case of emergency, make sure you know how to dial outside lines on your hotel room’s phone. Hang your “Do not disturb” sign on your door whether you’re inside or not. And don’t tempt housekeeping, if you do request that they come, by leaving your valuables lying around in plain sight. You can even request a safe or holding place for your expensive items from the management of your hotel, if there are any items that you are especially concerned about.

Be aware of your surroundings, especially when you’re alone – and try not to go place to place by your lonesome if you can help it. If you must venture out alone, be sure to check in with your hotel concierge for advice regarding what areas are considered high in crime or that may have other reasons for which they should be avoided. Try not to call attention to yourself as a tourist by being too camera-happy or buried in your map on the sidewalks. Do your best to be incognito and blend in with the people you’re surrounding by. This does not mean you may not take pictures – only that you should not spend so much time with your eye looking through the lens of your camera that you do not maintain awareness of your surroundings, or that you do not walk around with a camera hung conspicuously around your neck, screaming to those around you that you’re a vulnerable and potentially easy target since it’s clear you don’t belong there. You can never be too careful when it comes to your personal safety.

As a frequent business traveler, you must stay abreast of the latest business travel news. For example, a new flight company may have entered your area and may be offering attractive travel packages with cheaper airfares or better travel facilities. If you do not know about this new travel service, you may be losing a lot in terms of airfares and travel facilities. Perhaps the pilots of the airline you are traveling by go on strike the very day you have planned to board the plane. How you wish you had known it beforehand!

Business travel news also includes your awareness of the geographical situation and latest weather report of your destination. You may be traveling from a tropical country and you are suddenly required to travel to some destination which remains covered with ice and snow with strong cold winds howling all the year round. Now suppose you carry nothing but some light clothes in your suitcase; your predicament can now better be imagined than described.

Keep in mind the language spoken in your destination country. It may not be an English speaking country. So you need to make arrangement for a guide or an interpreter to take you around the city.

The place you may be traveling to may be infested with criminals and pickpockets. The fraudulent misuse of credit card information is widely prevalent in China. So you may have to pay heavily for being ignorant about the law and order situation in such countries.

Again, you are not allowed to drive a car in China even if you have a driver’s license in your own country. You therefore cannot hire a car in China to drive it yourself like you can do in many European countries or America.

Finally, the Internet is a great source for the latest news, which it provides by the hour.

No matter how big or small your business, there are things that an owner should do to make his business grow. At one time or another, every business owner has stayed awake at night and said, “What do I do now.” For some reason, things aren’t going as well as you think that they should.

We can look at recent events in GM – one of the biggest businesses in the world on the verge of bankruptcy. Kmart and Sears merged; many of the airlines have gone bankrupt. Enron was the largest company ever to file bankruptcy.

So the question is: “How do I make my business grow?”

In my previous articles I told you “How to open a business” and “How to find wholesale sources.” But that’s not the end of the story.

A few days ago, I was looking at some information that was quoted from The Kauffman Foundation by Michael Sexton of www.trumpuniversity.com that stated “550,000 Americans start new businesses every month.” Later in the same article, he said that according to the U.S. Small Business Administration “At least two-thirds of new businesses fail within the first four years.”

This brings me back to the same question: “How do I make my business grow?”

Sometimes forces work against the business owner that the business owner cannot control. Again, recent events have impacted many people and in turn, businesses are impacted. For instance, the rising gasoline price is causing many problems around this country. The average person that travels 30 miles each way to work is spending $90 more for gas per month than this time last year. That $90 has to come from somewhere and we can see that it is beginning to affect everything from housing sales to the price of sugar at the store.

I know someone that owned a dollar store – where everything is a dollar. For a year and a half, sales were fine, the number of customers was increasing slightly each month and the owner thought about opening a second store and had already purchased shelving and was looking for a second location. But then it happened. The gas price started increasing and Tennessee began a lottery. Within a two-month period, sales halved in his store and for the next six months, sales continued to drop and after about three more months he was forced to close – after such a promising future.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Vince Lombardi who seems to me as the ultimate motivator. “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” Everyone gets knocked down in life, but sometimes it takes a very strong person to get back up and try again and again.

When you are trying to come up with ideas to help you grow your business, try to think like a customer would.

Walk outside and look around. Would you want to shop in this store? Is it pleasing to look at? Does it look inviting? Is the parking lot clean? What is the first thing you notice as you pull up to the store? Is the sign lit or is one of the letters out? Does it look like the owner and employees take pride in the store?

Now, walk inside. What do you see? Is it well lit? Are the aisles clear of clutter? I know that shelves have to be stocked, but is there a better way than piling lots of boxes down the aisle where people can’t get through to shop. Instead of bringing a lot of boxes out at once, perhaps just a few at a time. Is the clerk friendly? Are the sales people happy? I personally left a mattress store because the salesman was on the phone and did not acknowledge me or even say “I’ll be with you in a minute.” When I left after about fifteen minutes, I went to another store and spent $900. This illustration is to show you that how your employees relate to customers can help or hurt your business. We’ve all been there where you think that you are an inconvenience to the employee.

This is only a start to help you to “Make your business grow.”

In my next article, I will delve into more ways to “make your business grow.”