How to Run a Business While Traveling Full Time (I've Done it for 10 Years)

What actually works when your office keeps moving

Photo by Phakphoom Srinorajan on Unsplash

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For the last decade, I’ve been running businesses while traveling full time — across continents, time zones, and radically different cultural rhythms.

I’ve worked from capital cities and tiny islands. From winter-dark London mornings and blistering Dubai summers. From places with flawless infrastructure and from places where WiFi disappears without warning.

And here’s something I wish more people would say out loud:

Running a business while traveling full time isn’t about vibes, hacks, or hustle. It’s about systems, delegation, and energy management.

If you’re wondering how to run a business while traveling full time without burning out or breaking your operations, this is the real playbook.

1. Treat arrival as a planning phase, not a productivity test

One of the biggest mistakes people make is expecting themselves to be fully productive the moment they land somewhere new.

Your brain doesn’t work that way.

Research on cognitive load and novelty shows that unfamiliar environments increase mental effort and reduce executive function (Chen, W., Chan, T.W., Wong, L.H. et al. IDC theory: habit and the habit loop. RPTEL 15, 10 (2020).

When everything is new — bed, light switches, sounds, routines — decision fatigue spikes.

So I do this instead:

I take 1–3 days on arrival to design my routine.

That includes:

• Which days are work days vs. play days

• When I’ll schedule deep work

• How I’ll fit in must-do activities in my destination

• What time of day my energy is best in this location

  
  

I always adapt to the local reality:

• In London winters, I use the short daylight hours to be outside and work at night (when my colleagues in the U.S. are online too)

• In Dubai summers, I sleep a lot later, work afternoons and run errands at night (when being outside is tolerable)

  
  

Spending some time upfront on planning dramatically reduces cognitive load downstream — freeing mental bandwidth for creative and strategic work.

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2. Use the right tools — and be intentional about how you use them

Running a business while traveling full time only works if your tools reduce friction instead of creating it.

Here’s my core stack and why each matters:

🔹 Zoom — for high-signal conversations

Video calls are best reserved for:

• 1:1s

• complex discussions

• trust-building moments

  
  

Media richness theory, first proposed by Daft & Lengel in 1986, shows richer communication channels are better for ambiguous or emotional topics.

🔹 Slack — for asynchronous collaboration and quick live conversations (huddles)

Slack works when:

• expectations need to be crystal clear/in writing

• response times need to be documented

• you need to have a quick live checkin but you don't have the bandwidth (or presentability) for video—use the huddle feature for an audio call

Asynchronous communication offers flexibility across time zones, which is especially valuable for globally distributed teams. But it also minimizes distractions and interruptions, allowing team members to immerse themselves in deep work without being pulled into constant real-time demands.

🔹 Notion — for your knowledge base

A centralized knowledge base:

• reduces repeat questions

• speeds onboarding

• makes delegation scalable

  
  

📚 Knowledge management research has long shown that shared documentation improves team efficiency and reduces coordination costs (Alavi & Leidner, 2001).

🔹 Features like Donut Intros — to simulate “running into people”

Remote teams miss informal connection. Tools like Donut's Intros feature recreate serendipity, which research links to:

• higher trust

• better collaboration

• stronger team cohesion

  
  

(Luo Lu, 2015)

🔹 Doodle — for time zone sanity

When teams span 5+ continents, Doodle removes endless back-and-forth by letting availability surface itself.

This protects everyone’s time and reduces scheduling friction — a surprisingly large drain on productivity in distributed teams.

3. Optimize for asynchronous communication — then delegate aggressively

If you want to run a business while traveling full time, async isn’t optional.

Asynchronous systems allow:

• work to continue while you sleep

• access to global talent

• dramatically lower labor costs

Delegating the “non-delegatable”

Most founders underestimate what can be delegated because tasks feel:

• too nuanced

• too personal

• too context-heavy

The solution isn’t doing them yourself — it’s documenting the decision logic.

My general rule is "if someone else could do this 80% as well with the right instructions, it should be handed off."

Instead of delegating tasks, delegate:

• criteria

• outcomes

• examples

• escalation rules

  
  

Once you do this, even high-judgment work becomes shareable.

This is also where global talent shines. When you optimize for async, you can access exceptional professionals at a fraction of U.S. labor costs — without sacrificing quality.

That top balcony is one of my favorite places to work remotely in London. It's right off the employees' cafeteria but if you just stand tall and walk in there like you own the place, no one will stop you. The balcony has wifi, power ports, and a sweet view across The Thames & Waterloo Bridge. (Photo by Samuel Regan-Asante on Unsplash)

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4. Energy management matters more than time management

Time zones are only half the equation.

Your energy determines:

• decision quality

• creativity

• leadership presence

  
  

Travel disrupts sleep, movement, and routines — all of which directly affect executive function (Weingarten JA, Collop NA. 2013).

I protect energy by:

• prioritizing sleep over squeezing in extra work

• using bodyweight fitness programs I can do anywhere

• planning work around local energy rhythms

• building in rest before burnout appears

  
  

This isn’t indulgent. It’s operationally smart.

5. Build systems that assume things will go wrong

WiFi will fail. Flights will be delayed. Time zones will confuse people.

Sustainable nomadic businesses plan for this.

That means:

• multiple internet backups (local SIM + eSIM)

• documented reporting lines (including who to go to when someone needs help and their direct supervisor is offline)

• assistants empowered to make decisions

  
  

Resilience beats perfection every time.

The real secret to running a business while traveling full time

After ten years, here’s the simplest truth I can offer:

Freedom comes from structure. Travel works when your systems travel better than you do.

If you design your business to be resilient, async-first, and delegation-friendly, location becomes a backdrop — not a liability.

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