Change the world: Travel brings out your inner entrepreneur

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Need another great reason to travel the globe? Your next trip may lead to a brilliant new startup idea and kickoff the business journey of a lifetime.

Travel entrepreneur

There are so many good reasons to go on vacation and take a trip. Research proves that it helps us deal with the daily grind and improves our health. Our immune system is exposed to new environmental conditions, our hiking boots are put to good and healthy use, and we finally take a deep breath and enjoy some time to ourselves. 

But there’s another reason why traveling is great for us, one that we at Bookaway are well familiar with. You see, exploring the globe is a wonderful way of discovering your next (or first ever) adventure as an entrepreneur, and it also happens to be the story of how Bookaway was born. 

Back in 2016, Noam Toister, Bookaway’s Co-founder and CEO, was honeymooning with his wife in the glorious Philippines. The newlyweds wanted to get from Manila to Banaue and visit the famous rice terraces in the area, but alas, had to wait two whole days before a couple of bus seats became available. What could have been a very disappointing experience turned into a wonderful eureka moment, when Toister decided to build the solution to this problem himself and create a new platform for remote booking. 

As it turns out, while Bookaway is indeed unique, the mental process that formed the base for our company isn’t. There are certain benefits to travel that simply bring out our inner entrepreneur and can kick-off the journey of a lifetime. 

Getting much needed thinking time 

First, we are able to get away from our daily routine and take a break, which allows our creative juices to flow and new, brave ideas to form. It’s hard to find time to think between a million daily chores and a full-time job. Even when we steal a moment to ourselves, it is mostly used for social media browsing and other distractions. In other words: we barely get the chance to think. 

When we travel, we sometimes have too much time to think, which enables two important processes to happen: we reconsider some of our life’s choices and come up with creative ideas for a new adventure. 

Meeting new concepts and people 

Trips are filled with new places, cultures, and people that we never would have come across had we stayed back home. All of a sudden, we find out that there is more than one way of approaching different aspects of our world and feel determined to bring these exciting ideas back with us. 

This notion is nothing new. In the old days, merchants would take new food items, plants, and work methods with them as they sailed the oceans centuries ago. This is indeed the global experience in its fullest. When you think about it, entrepreneurship can manifest in the smallest of details. 

We discover new needs 

It’s a well known fact that the best startups solve problems the founders themselves experienced, and traveling takes us away from our daily routine and creates a new schedule, with demands and needs we never had to deal with before. Riding the bus for 18 hours straight, sleeping in a tent during a snowstorm, or trying to email birthday greetings from the mountain top — these are all unique situations and challenges that allow us to come up with new ideas for a startup. 

Gaining newfound faith in ourselves 

Trips enable us to put some of our hidden talents and abilities to the test and realize that we are braver and smarter than we could have imagined. This is especially true if we choose to tackle challenging tasks such as traveling alone, trying extreme sports for the first time, or completing a serious trekking route. 

It is in these magical moments that we learn how nothing can stand in our way because we can do anything we set our minds to. Yes, anything. The few obstacles that cross out path become opportunities and may turn into the next business idea for a company or a product.

Taking our travel-born startup idea with a grain of salt

While everything listed here sounds amazing, not every idea that crosses our minds as we travel should become our next mission in life. It’s important to remember that every concept must be tested and adjusted to fit each specific market, so take a few moments to really evaluate your business models and think of the possible reasons why this solution was not yet implemented in other parts of the world. 

Discovering potential obstacles shouldn’t discourage you from going after your dream, but it can help shed some light on the necessary changes that will lead you to success. In other words, do your research.

If you’ve been looking for a brilliant startup idea for quite some time but failed to come up with anything you feel particularly excited about, try going away for a week or two. Visit new places and speak to people who think and behave differently than you. If it all works out, you may discover the right path for a new and successful business venture and if not, well, at least you gained a fun trip packed with memories. If you ask me, that is in itself a startup.

Posted February 25, 2020
Rotem Taitler
A history buff, lover of art, and coffee addict who is filled with perpetual curiosity about everything in the world and is especially passionate about storytelling, traveling and wine.