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View Full Version : Small Businesses That Invovle Alot of Traveling??



a_caldwell
01-25-2010, 07:20 PM
Hello,

My last business venture had me traveling to 41 states within a year's time. I LOVE traveling and I'm currently thinking of ideas in where I can hit the road again and make money besides truck-driving, travel agencies, etc....

Does anyone know of any Small Biz. Op that includes a lot of traveling?

Thanks,

Patrysha
01-25-2010, 09:06 PM
Speaking is another one...
So is working with Trade Shows...

Of course, you can take nearly any online business on the road with you if you just want to travel...

nighthawk
01-26-2010, 06:55 AM
any sort of business that involves visiting clients will involve lots of travel, just target the entire US rather than a local area. Any sort of sales job or consulting will do. However bear in mind a lot of your time will be spent meeting clients and actually doing work, so although you will get to visit all 50 states, you will have little time to actually do sightseeing.

I also enjoy a lot of travelling, but I would prefer to find a job that can be done remotely so I can work from the hotel, or a job that gives plenty of time off to allow time for travelling.

Steve B
01-26-2010, 07:03 AM
Trade shows seems like it would be a pretty decent gig. I just got done with a big homebuilders show - many of the vendors just go around doing home shows all year as they travel to different cities. The vendors that I remember that were NOT local were a guy selling foot inserts (Happy Feet?), a guy selling cookware, the Shamwow guy, there was a lady selling lint picker upper things etc. Most of these shows are on weekends however.

Evan
01-26-2010, 09:05 PM
Or, if you're good enough, you do all the traveling, and pawn this work off to your employees. Then you review their work, and give it to clients at 5x the rate of your employees wages.

Ah, dream big. That corner office sure seems nice!

KristineS
01-27-2010, 03:28 PM
Doing seminars could involve a lot of traveling too. If you have an area of expertise, you could get gigs offering seminars at trade shows.

billbenson
02-02-2010, 02:20 PM
If its a sales job, most have gone to internet supported sales. Purchasing agents look for deals online. Product demonstrations are done online. Travel is mostly done at the higher levels of management. Some products require it though?

I'd look into training of national or international products.

Jamey
02-25-2010, 02:35 AM
Smart business people are leveraging the power of internet marketing strategies to attract more qualified customers to their small business. I think having an internet connection might reduce traveling for small business. If it's seminar it involves lot of traveling.

pete
02-28-2010, 11:23 PM
I spent the 1990s traveling. I was selling specialized PC systems for vertical markets and many of my sales were as a result of my trade show appearances, as well as writing some articles / columns for trade press.

I started selling Point-of-sale systems and auto repair management systems, but the auto repair turned up many requests for tow truck dispatch, so I soon moved into that. That, in turn, developed into fleet tracking so I was soon selling not just to tow truck operators, but to everything from plumbing and heating fleets to copy machine fleets.

One $80,000 sale was the result of a copy machine company just happening to pass the home of an employee at 2 PM and seeing his truck in the driveway. The tow truck guys had me wire the passenger door, the hood, the hook on the back, so they could tell if their drivers were taking cash on the side. Even sold several repo guys.

Trade shows for all sorts of industries, all over the country. Las Vegas several times a year for shows, Orlando the same, etc. Made good money, saw a lot of the country, since I often drove with the hardware in the back of my Suburban, both to shows and to installations.

Actually backed into the GPS tracking, also did a lot with bar codes, selling to hospitals, military, industrial accounts, as well as retail stores. Even insurance companies.
Can't tell you a specific niche, but there are sure some out there.