Checking my Email over Breakfast at Lori's Diner in San Francisco!
Location: Company Offices, Reading Time: 4-5mins
For regular readers of the Virtual Business Lifestyle blog, you’ll already know that I have been in the US for the last almost-three-weeks on my most recent ‘Pleasure Trip’. I even posted a video of my ‘mobile office’ before I left. It was probably one of the most successful of my professional life, and I only actually ‘worked’ 6 days of the entire trip! Now I’m back home and back to ‘work’, but wanted to give you a little breakdown of the trip, in case you might be remotely interested!
When I landed in San Francisco after the 13 hour flight from Manila (not fun, even in Business Class – but, its the destination, not the journey, right!?) I was smacked around the face by the cold weather. Yes, I’m originally from London and yes, have experienced cold weather over the last 10 years since I’ve been living in Asia, however, it was cold to the point where I had to go buy gloves, a hat and a new winter jacket! Whilst in San Fran we met with a major client of ours and enjoyed spending time with them for the first time, face-to-face. I also got the chance to meet with an old colleague and fellow entrepreneur, Sanjay Maholtra – he is now SF-based and an angel investor in tech start-up’s. We shot a few videos that will be coming up in the next few weeks here on the blog.
Next stop was Miami, which was great (we were there for Super Bowl weekend, on South Beach!), but windy. We had the chance to meet with another of our clients, someone that I’ve been working very closely with for over a year and have a very similar mind-set to, in relation to sales and marketing, so it was great to finally hook up with him, have dinner, a few cocktails and generally get to know each other properly, face-to-face.
We then shuffled East, to New York – this was probably the best and worst part of the trip. Worst because it snowed – BIGTIME – and we got snowed in for 2 extra days (shortening the upcoming stay in LA), and the best because not only did I meet with two awesome prospective clients (who have both signed-up with my company since), have a coffee with a reader from the blog, but I also got the chance to see one of my biggest music idols perform for the first time ever – the one and only BB King, and he had Buddy Guy on stage with him, too! Awesome.
LA was the last stop – just 36-odd hours. But the weather was a amazing, we met and had brunch with a great client, too, plus signed-up a new one at the same time – literally hours before we flew out! Myself and Ercille had a great time walking down Hollywood Boulevard, and after a while searching, I finally found the star of another big ‘hero’ of mine, Bruce Lee – you’ll see I even posed for a quick photo, too!
So, all in all, a very productive, enjoying trip.
But, the trip was more than just all of this…
The good news was that this break was also a test to see if my company could ‘survive’ without me for a full two, uninterrupted, weeks – and it did. No fires to put out and no major issues. My Full-Time Virtual CEO Goal is getting closer, I can feel it!
Not only do I feel as if the goal can be reached, but the trip also created a whole bunch of additional confidence in the people working for me (especially in management), and lets face it, these are the people I am relying on to make the goal an actual reality. So, to say I was happy would be an underestimate (guys if youre reading this, dont come looking for pay increases quite yet!).
I also had the chance to shoot some great videos on the trip, I am going to be posting one a week for the next 5-6 weeks, so get ready for more cool video content coming up.Until next time, have an awesome week ahead, and continue to spread the Virtual Business Lifestyle word – I highly appreciate it!
If you liked this post, please do leave a comment below – I love hearing from my readers, and reply to pretty much every one! You can also “Be Sweet and Retweet!” if you like, too. Thanks, everyone!
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All that cool business stuff but I got jealous about the BB show. Sweeeet!
@Dan – Absolutely, BB was awesome. Great chatting to you on the phone last night, too. Thanks for reaching out and spreading the word. Much appreciate. Chris
Glad the trip went great man. Sorry we couldn’t link up. Great story about BB King and Buddy Guy – 2 supreme legends.
Next time, all us US folks need to come visit you and experience life on the other end of the world.
@Greg – Yep, it was a good trip overall. What I enjoyed the most was seeing all the sites (and BB and Buddy!), spending very little time actually ‘working’, yet still bringing in more new business at the same time. I guess the good old fashioned handshake and the odd dinner is STILL the best way to solidify deals and make new friends and clients.
It would be awesome to have you over here! Youre more than welcome, anytime! Thanks for commenting, as always, bud.
Nice trip and indeed more business is coming in!!!
More business, more challenge, more learning, more GROWTH!
@Mark – Absolutely! A lot of great things coming up this year. Stick around, its gonna be a great ride, I assure you!!!
Glad you liked the good ole U S of A and sorry I missed meeting up with you!
@Maren – We’ll hook up one the next one for sure. I love living in the Philippines, but every now and then, a slice of ‘reality’ is a good thing!!! Thanks for the comment, too!
Chris,
Really been enjoying your site. As I have been spending more and more time working with people from the Philippines I think there is a lot I can learn from you!
I’ve seen both BB and Buddy Guy perform a few times, and am constantly blown away. If you like them, check out Joe Bonamassa…my all time favorite guitarist.
Hope to talk more soon!
Hi Sean – And likewise, your blog is also a great read. Highly enjoyable. OMG yes, Joe is also a great string man. Reminds me bigtime of SRV. Give me a ping when you’re coming into town (just saw your tweet) – lets hook up!
Whoa… that’s a real excursion.
BB puts on a good show. I saw him in Austin years ago, with Bobby “Blue” Bland. He played for a while, then took a break announcing, “We’re gonna rock and roll after we take a little break.”
All the old people got up and left.
Whence he came back out and tore down the house for another hour.
Hi Dave – thanks for the comment.
BB is about as cool as cool can get.
Note to self: Never, never, EVER leave the building when a Blues Legend tells you he’ll rock n roll after taking a little break.
EVER!