Kathleen and I get posed this question often:

What is the best investment you’ve made in your business?

And, every time, we come back with the same answer:

Travel.

Sure, I could buy iMacs all day. Photographers can buy more lenses. Interior designers want more swatch fans. A new website is a fab investment. And branding will make you look legit.

But, guys, those are just tools.

Then there are things that help you learn, like courses, masterminds, and coaches. And while those come as a very close second, they’re not our number one. Our number one is travel.

As online entrepreneurs, we put ourselves in a position to hunker down and work. We set ourselves up to become hermits, never leaving the house, never having face time with anyone other than those we live with, and the threat of getting so comfortable in our day-to-day that we’re no better off than we were in that day job. Yea, you know the one.

And I’m totally raising my hand here: I recently had my wellness coach uncover and reprimand me for not taking a daily lunch. Because I forget. Almost every day. Even day-jobbers take lunch breaks.

Hey Creative Entrepreneur, here's a reminder: Even day-jobbers take lunch breaks. Share on X

Though that’s all ok if you totally want to be a shut-in, most of us don’t, but we begin to experience this as a by-product of working for ourselves in online businesses.

Not only that, but as a life-long traveller, I know that investing in getting that far out of your comfort zone does really amazing things to a person. Experiencing new places and new cultures molds you into a different, new person. You expand your horizons, your understanding, and your own abilities in big ways.

Investing in getting far out of your comfort zone does really amazing things to a person. Share on X

So, why do Kathleen and I believe that travel is the most important investment for your business:

  • You get out of your head/corner, and back into the real world. Remember that place?
  • You move yourself outside of your comfort zone—a move any good entrepreneur makes on the regular.
  • You get to have some real, live, one-on-one face time with other people.
  • It’s an investment that will give back immediately, and for years and years to come.

I have experienced this time and time again. For example, it was an investment in traveling to Alt Summit years ago that led me to for-real meet Kathleen for the first time.

Every time I invest in travel, I grow as a business—and as a person—in astounding ways. And that’s a feat that no iMac will ever claim.

Every time I invest in travel, I grow as a business—and as a person—in astounding ways. Share on X

All of these reasons are driving factors behind why we created our Boss Vacations: See the world. Experience new things. Have adventures with new people who get what it’s like to do what you do.

Investing in travel, in going new places, and in cultivating relationships is something I will never regret investing in.

———

Oh, man! I’m jazzed anew at the idea of hanging out with some bosses at #BeingBossMIAMI!

If you’d like to invest in your life and business by joining in some boss adventures, check out our Miami Boss Vacation. We hope to see you there!

If you like learning about investing in your business through travel, you might also like:

Emily is the co-host of Being Boss Podcast, helping creative entrepreneurs learn how to run their own creative business with the tough love they need to hear to do the work. She also owns Almanac Supply Co., a maker and retail business focused on creating and curating items to help you live closely with nature, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee.