3 Ways Starting a Business is a Lot Like Backpacking Across Europe with Friends!

The Eurotrip! The epitome of wild adolescent exploration and adventure. A second to none experience, only to be topped by partying with Himalayan monks, introducing them to Snapchat, and getting them to make crazy duck faces (you know the face, cue the BLUESTEEL gif! I know personally because surprisingly, I’ve done both. The Eurotrip is a central coming of age theme in many feel good movie plots where the protagonist gathers a bunch of their friends to take one last wild-crazy-whirlwind adventure before the realities of life come crashing in. Because of the wild and fun nature of a Eurotrip, it would be the last place anyone would turn to in learning key elements of planning your own a business. However, there are general principles in this world that surface when you want to begin any journey. And as any successful entrepreneur will tell you, creating a business is a wild (and hopefully fun) journey. Plus, if you take a closer look at the word "adventure" you'll find the “venture” in it as well! So, let's 'add' a little fun (see what I did there?? No?...Okay. Fine.)

Anyways, back to the main point. Here are three key reasons why starting your own business is a lot like backpacking through Europe with friends.

1. Vision & Purpose | Know where you want to go and why

One of the first elements of planning a successful Eurotrip with your friends is to determine where you want to go and why. While planning my own Eurotrip, one of the big challenges we encountered was this; given limited time and resources, what places do we want to accomplish seeing? However, with all the opportunities available, how were we supposed to decide? We had to come back to our center. Back to our purpose. Why were we making this trip? To see landscapes? Eat food? Meet up with friends? Our purpose was not clear enough, so our vision of where we wanted to go was not clear as well. After realizing this, we did some introspection and came up with a purpose. We wanted to make friends and party with locals and other travelers in European cities that offer low cost of living. This was our purpose. This was our reason. This was our, why. With our purpose clarified, selecting places to visit became easy as pie (a store bought pie at least. Unfortunately, I’ve proven on multiple occasions that actually pie-making is not that easy). We simply had to discover countries with low cost of living, check out their major cities, and see which ones travelers usually go to. We were able to settle on several majors cities all across eastern Europe as our destination. Our vision was now set.

2. Know Your Capitals | Have enough funds for food, fuel and a flat

Something you will realize very quickly on your Eurotrip is how much little things add up. Yeah, that cheap and yummy meal was only equivalent to a couple bucks, however, can you sustain that three times a day (more like four, I eat a lot), seven days a week, for one month? Not counting splurges on drinks, souvenirs, or much of anything else. If you’re driving, how much fuel do you need throughout your trip? Are there times you’ll need to take a train, boat or plane?---I’ve been forced to take all three before).---How about where to stay? If you meet the love of your life in a certain city, do you have enough to spend an extra couple of days there? What’s your back out strategy if things go awry and you need to get back home?

Although these are a lot of questions to answer. Failure to explore these questions can put you at risk of being stranded in a foreign country with little or next to nothing, and no way to get back home. Similarly, in business, you’ll need to explore every avenue of possible expenditure to know how much capital you will need to prepare before you hop into a venture. Not planning for this can be extremely detrimental. Just as a perfect trip can turn south if there’s not enough to eat or get back home, a business venture that starts off well, but doesn’t have the capital to continue to operate can be disastrous and will ultimately end up in failure. Planning for expenses, small or large is a key element in good business planning. So while it’s good to know the capitals of the countries you visit, in business, it’s good to know your capitals in regards how much you will need to make this venture successful.

3. Choose Your Team Carefully | Who do you really want to bring?

Let’s face it, we all have the one friend or family member that’s nice to hang around for a bit, but, you can only handle them in small doses. Either they’re always bringing up that one time you wet the bed as a kid (seriously it was 20 years ago Mark, give it up!), or they just really give you the creeps being around too long. In the same manner, there are certain people you just don’t want to be traveling alone with in a foreign country for an extended period of time. The same can be said for your business. There is a certain kind of person you’ll need to have come along with you on this journey. Aaaand, there are others...who…although they may have good intentions, aren’t the best to come along on this specific journey. While traveling on a tight budget, you are going to be around these people a looong time. You have to make sure the vision, personality, and street sense of all people you bring along is something you have considered. This sentiment goes double for new founders who are just starting out. Selecting the right people as a partner or for key management roles is vital. They can make your venture a dream trip, or a nightmare vacation. So choose wisely, your business, and your sanity depends on it.

Wrap Up

So indeed, planning a wild and fun adventure across Europe does has some common themes that mirror planning a business venture in general. Both require that you really take a deep look at why you’re doing this and where you want to go. They require you to make sure you acquire enough funds to get you through and successfully. And they also both require choosing whom you want to take and whom you want on your team, which will have a significant impact on your entire journey. The process of thinking about these areas are important components of developing a sustainable and thriving business! Now go on and get out with your venture...adventure....or both! :-)