Recently, my nephew achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scout’s of America. For those of you who are aware of what this designation means, thank you for the congratulations, but I obviously had nothing to do with it! For those of you who are unfamiliar with Eagle Scouts or scouting in general, the Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank that a scout can hope for. Representing less than 5% of all scouts ever, those who achieve Eagle Scout have been known to actually include it on their professional resumes due to the high level of dedication that reaching this rank represents. All of this is to add some context to one of my fondest memories (and at this point, one of the only remaining memories!) of scouting; the Boy Scout’s Motto, “Be Prepared.” This simple and effective reminder to plan ahead and stay adaptable is the basis of today’s blog.
Being Prepared Means Packing Smart
When you plan a trip, it’s not rocket science to take a peek at the weather at your destination to pack accordingly. But the inclusion of several key contingencies is always a prudent decision, too. A packable rain jacket, for example, is one of those items that doesn’t add too much to your luggage and yet the benefit of having it when you need it far outweighs the cost of lugging it around if you don’t. Traveling for work is no different in the sense that there are some staples you need to bring to any conference or sales trip. But what about including an extra phone charger or presentation clicker with your business cards and slide printouts? Certainly, you won’t want duplicates of all your business tools, but every added level of redundancy is also an extra layer of insurance against any of life’s many surprises. This is why increasing your reliance on cloud-based tools like a Dash Plan is a great way to both broaden your options and lighten your overall load at the same time.
Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work
As we recently discussed, traveling for work or for life is something that can be an enriching and rewarding experience. Unfortunately, though, for those who don’t have the right tools available to them at work, it can also be a costly consideration if time away from the office directly translates to time away from actually working. Fortunately for us at VirtualPBX, we get to practice what we preach. In fact, it’s because I’m personally prepared with an array of remote working resources that I’m actually able to keep connected while typing this from a hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. This isn’t exactly how I expected to see my workweek panning out, but because I have with me the simple and effective VoIP plans that we provide to thousands of businesses all over the world, I was confident I could handle it. With just a simple data or Wi-Fi connection, I can have all of my telephone calls forwarded to me anywhere in the world. Furthermore, I can circumnavigate any of the costs associated with placing calls from these distant locations using those same tools. And to keep my private life private, these calls can be masked with my office telephone number on caller ID so I won’t have to reveal my personal mobile number if I don’t want to. While the circumstances of how I found myself to be working from one of the earliest global hubs of commerce are ones I may wish to forget, the fact is that because of VirtualPBX, they aren’t remotely enough to keep me from getting the job done.
Where the Boy Scout’s Motto Can Lead You
I don’t expect that my nephew is going to find himself in need of having to navigate the convoluted procedures of exiting the Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul anytime soon. That said, should he be traveling for work in his future career and be equipped with the same flexibility of VoIP from VirtualPBX, I’m exceedingly confident that he’ll handle it all in stride. He is an Eagle Scout, after all. Plus, in retrospect, considering that 11 of the 12 astronauts to walk on the surface of the moon were all Boy Scouts, maybe thinking he’ll be wandering around in Turkey killing time between flights is actually setting sights a bit too low.
Until then, and thanks to Dash VoIP, I’ll be prepared for anything that the world throws at me.
