Most of the successful entrepreneur I know read books every single day. Reading helps them to feed their mind with information and provide an idea to better their businesses. Today millennials entrepreneur not only spend time reading the book but also traveling out of their comfort zone. For new business owners, I always advise to travel and to try as much thrilling adventure as they can cause this will help them on their entrepreneurial up and down.
I recently interview Ashley Beels ( Business coach) to understand more about the importance of traveling for an entrepreneur.
1) Hello Ashley, I’m excited to share your story and your love towards traveling. Please tell me a little bit about your background.
Ashley Beels : To the Mavens reading… HELLO! I’m Ashley Beels, and I’m a Business Coach and Meraki™ Strategist guiding highly-driven soulful entrepreneurs that have an unwavering ambition to share and showcase their unique gifts, but struggle with a sense of direction and lack strategic implementation. By guiding my client’s to infuse THEIR meraki with my business’ understructure that encompasses mindset, creativity, and visibility, they are able to monetize their services and finally blow the damn lid off their business.
A big part of my business beliefs revolved around CONNECTION and RELATIONSHIP building. And one of my favorite ways to do this is through traveling. Traveling deepens my relationship to myself, to this beautiful earth, and to the new people I get to meet when exploring!
2) Have you ever felt down in your life and used travel as a way to place everything aside for a moment so that you might return to it with different or new perspective?
Ashley Beels : Yes! A matter of fact, I believe that traveling can actually UPLEVEL one’s business by shifting perspectives, clearing the mind, honoring the body, and nurturing the soul. To be totally transparent, I have recently been in a bit of a funk, and decided to reach out to a girl friend and start planning a trip. Just having this trip PLANNED has brought so much more peace to my mind and is already shifting my perspective around this situation. One of my largest moments of transformation while traveling, was back when I traveled to New York for my first SOLO trip after going through a lot of inner evolution and change. I went last minute, without a plane ticket, or even a place to stay. I got a flight last minute, and arrived to the seminar to meet two people who changed my life forever, inspired me to get out of the situation I was in, and support me in life and business to this day.
3) How often you travel for yourself and for Business Ambition?
Ashley Beels : I travel when it FEELS necessary for me, like on a soul level. I don’t put a requirement on how much I “need to”, or how many trips I need to take. Some years, this means monthly! This last year, it’s been only maybe 5-7 trips, with for the first time in a decade, none being international! I’ve really been trying to explore my own country and even local areas much more.
4) What countries have you traveled and what’s your favorite thing about traveling?
Ashley Beels : I’ve been to St. Lucia, Dominican Republic, Germany, France, Canada, Italy, Mexico (probably 12+ times now), and many places in the United States. Traveling opens up CONNECTION, possibility, the window to my soul’s voice (and all it’s yummy wisdom), and my inner child. My favorite thing is by far all the opportunities to learn. Learning about the culture expands my heart and mind in a way where it feels WIDE OPEN and expansive. And that connection brings me closer to myself as well. Because to travel does NOT mean you have to make it this huge grand adventure with a year of planning and a year of saving all your money. In fact, one of my favorite trips ever was a 24-hour camping tree to Joshua Tree, California. So I’d invite readers to just VENTURE and have fun. Look around where you are locally, you don’t have to go 2,000 miles across your country to travel and experience the beauty it brings.
5) Have you ever made any important entrepreneurial or business connections while travelling, which opened up doors to you that would have otherwise never appeared?
Ashley Beels : Yes! In fact, two out of five of the women I had stand beside me while I got married last year (abroad in the country of St. Lucia) were women I had met while traveling for my business! Those friendships with those inspiring entrepreneurs have opened up COUNTLESS doors in my life.
More recently, I traveled to Santa Barbara California to speak at The Soul Success Summit. Upon my first two moments of my trip, I made a friend that felt like a long-lost-sister! And that connection was mutual. Since then, we have talked almost everyday and have helped each other with our business. The connection you meet when traveling will surprise you! It does not always mean you will meet investors, or collaborators, or clients! Sometimes, it’s your long lost soul sister.
6) How can people contact you?
Ashley Beels : I’d love to connect with the readers. Everyone in my community can attest to how much value I put on connection. So I’d LOVE to personally connect with anyone that took the time to read this AND give them a free gift of How To Create Your Meraki™ Statement so that they can start to monetize their unique gifts and services.
For those of you reading this, you can grab this free gift in my free community, Meraki™ Maven Entrepreneurs (https://www.facebook.com/
