My bags are packed and I‘m ready to go.
Luckily my packing process is pretty smooth nowadays as I‘ve really figured out how to avoid over packing.
Being a frequent traveller, I‘ve fallen in love with travelling light with a carry-on bag only.Whether it is a month on the trans-Siberian through Russia with Christo, a trip to Switzerland to visit my family or a surfing trip in the Maldives with friends, I‘ve managed to fit my clothes into a carry-on bag only. It wasn‘t always like this though, it took a bit of trial and error and a lot of persistence.
Besides not having to carry a heavy bag, it‘s really the narrowing down of outfit options that makes travelling light so attractive. I‘m not wasting any brainpower on what to wear (as there is a very limited option) and it‘s really quite liberating.
At the start of the year I took my dear mum on a trip through Asia for one month and we both promised we‘d only take the essentials, keeping things simple.
My mum travelled from Switzerland, I came from Australia and we met in the middle, Bangkok. As soon as I saw her at the airport I knew she fell into the ‘I couldn‘t leave stuff behind‘ trap and her suitcase was not only big it was so heavy she could hardly lift it herself. For the next four weeks I heard her swear daily about her over packing.
The other day I had a private strategy session with Rene, a business owner who sells consulting services. She had so many different solutions and offers for corporates and it was hard to figure out what was really going on. This also reflected in the results she was getting. So here is a brilliant woman with amazing skills but totally overwhelming her clients (and herself) with too much choice.
This is a common challenge entrepreneurs have, they over-complicate things for themselves and their prospects.
We started off looking at what the best solutions were for her clients and which ones were the most profitable. Just from doing this simple exercise, we were able to eliminate some of the things that didn‘t really make sense for her business. The outcome was a lot more clarity on what her business offers, making it easier for her prospects to buy from her.
In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robert Cialdini talks about an experiment in an up-scale supermarket where they had two stands for people to taste different jam flavours. One had six flavours and the other one had twenty-four. Which one do you think sold the most jars?
Yep that‘s right, the one with a smaller choice.
Too much choice kills the sale! (Somebody clever said this, not sure who).
Think about this in your own business. Do you have too much choice? Are you making it too complicated for your market to buy from you? Is there anything you can leave behind in your business to make it easier for your prospects to understand your business and buy from you?
Here is to travelling light in business!
Au revoir!
Franziska
PS: I have a confession to make: After bragging about my carry-on only policy, my bag this time ended up a little bit bigger as I‘m travelling to LA and NYC with a girlfriend and speaking at a few events. I fell into the trap of not being able to narrow down on my shoe choice. I know, it‘s a bit lame.