How We Stay on Top of Business While Traveling

Welcome to The In Between Podcast, a show for women navigating the space between where they are and where they want to be.

This is your go-to holistic business podcast where we dive into strategies, mindset, habits, and of course, making a meaningful income so you can live your dream life.

I'm Astrid, a multi-six-figure luxury wedding photographer and a former corporate marketing girly.

And I'm Alexis with 10+ years in tech as a senior brand partnerships manager and business coach. Think of us as your business besties cheering you on as you level up. Let's get into it.

Hello friends, and welcome back to another episode of The In Between Podcast.

This is one of your hosts, Astrid, and the other half of the pod, Alexis. And today on the podcast, we are going to be talking about how to travel and keep your life together, especially when you're not traveling for vacation. We are not talking about PTO, out of office, autoresponder on kind of travel. We're talking about the kind of travel that you do for work and you need to somewhat maintain work while you're working on the go and traveling. So we've never done an episode quite like this before, and I'm really excited to talk about it through this lens of you see us traveling a lot for our jobs. Um, and for Asher's business, I don't travel as much for my side hustle, but I travel for my career. But I still meet with clients on the side and I'm still trying to manage a lot while I'm traveling. So we're going to talk about that today because I know that even some of the girls that are in our In Between Mastermind travel a lot for work and we've been talking a lot about time management.

Mm-hmm.

And how do we manage time while we are trying to keep the business going, we're traveling on behalf of the business, we're trying to be present where we are while also making sure that we're not dropping a lot of balls in the process. So really looking forward to getting into this and just sharing what's worked for Astrid and I and how we manage all the things.

All the things. I love this topic because for a while my business was a side hustle that I traveled a lot for. So I would work full-time from a desk Monday to Friday. And then pop on a plane and then travel over the weekend and then show up 8:00 AM on Monday. And then now I get to do it full-time and it's 2 very different aspects, but I think that they both require the same level of intentionality when it comes to planning. And also honestly, the same level of just freedom. Like, just understand that you're not gonna keep everything at 100%. Like, what are your priorities? So I'm excited to hear how you've tackled some of your travel and work. And how you balance that all around, how I've managed it as well, and just seeing different ways to, um, yeah, to do this a little bit better and not feel like we're gonna have an anxiety heart attack every time that we have to travel for work. 'Cause I've definitely been there.

Literally. Literally.

So with that being said, let's first jump in into our in-betweens. And if you're new around here, um, every single episode we always share what season of life we currently find ourselves in between. So I'll hand it off to you.

Yes. Well, I'm in between— this podcast episode could not come at a better time because I am currently in between prepping for a big work trip. So I am getting ready to be gone for 4 days, 4 business days working, but also trying to be present while I'm there, but also make sure that I'm not dropping any balls in the process. Something that has been helping me is I have laid out all of my tasks for the week ahead. So even though I am going to be in San Diego and then I'm going to be in Denver after that, I know everything I have to get done in my pockets of time. And that has really helped me. I think in the past, I have just been on the go at work events or traveling for work. And I'm like, okay, what can I do in this I've got an hour, I've got 2 hours, I've got 10 minutes. What can I do? And to proactively plan for that, I have like laid out what I have to get done this week. And I feel like I'm walking into a really busy work week being like, okay, I, I know what I have to get done no matter what, like my non-negotiable tasks to keep these other campaigns running in the background. So I'm excited for that. I also, I don't know if I've shared this on the podcast yet, but My team asked me to produce two customer stories, and we're going to be telling more and more stories of circle communities. And I get to go to San Diego to interview Pat Flynn and spend the day with him and his CEO in a really cool studio in San Diego. And then I fly from San Diego to Denver, and I get to interview Raina Pomeroy, who is the community manager. For a really big community called Good Inside, which is a parenting community hosted by Dr. Becky. And she's like a child psychologist slash therapist and has a really amazing podcast. And she has a community on Circle called Good Inside. And so I've never done that before. And on top of managing the tasks, I think I'm also in between just doing things and being like, I can do this. I, I am capable. And maybe I haven't done this exact task before. I haven't maybe managed this type of project before, but I have these skills and they're transferable. So that's what I'm in between right now, both of those things. What about you?

I love that so much. That is— we're, we're in similar stages of the week, I feel like, where we are both traveling and staying busy. But I love to hear how much like the newness that you're approaching and that you're able to welcome that with excitement and positivity, even though something new will bring stress because it's just overall part of introducing something new into your ecosystem, into your skillset. And I think like that there's so much freedom in that unlocking where you're not allowing that stress to eat you alive. You're like, okay, I'm stepping into this. new layer of it. So I'm proud of you, and I know it's going to be such a great week. Yeah. On my end, honestly, I am on the same vein of just a really busy travel week, just within the state of driving quite a bit. By the end of this week, I think I would've driven about 12 hours total and just having a lot of meetings and things like that. I know.

Gotta love the Midwest.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh, girl. Yeah. Yeah. And loaded.

Those miles, those miles are gonna— I'm ready to tax deduct those miles. Um, but yeah, I think that the preparation that I did yesterday has really helped me ease into the week. And at the same time, uh, what I'm, what I'm in between in this schedule is I've been a little bit more in like my flow state where I've been busy, but it's just been more from home. and on my laptop or things pretty close by. And now I'm shifting back into being away from home a lot, and it kind of feels a little bit dysregulating. And so I'm like, oh, no, I want to eat my food and I want to go to my workouts. And then I started getting anxious. I can't get my steps in this week and I can't go to my workouts. And I know it sounds so silly.

It doesn't.

But it's a little bit.

It's like a dream. It doesn't. I want to validate you.

Thank you. Thank you. So that's kind of where I'm at, is just knowing that life is part of seasons and this is a season, this is a week. And overall acknowledging too that my schedule has entered a more balanced state than it's ever been. I have one big wedding in April, one big wedding in May, then I'm traveling, one big wedding in July. It's a bit more sustainable than what I've done in the past of back-to-back weeks and back-to-back shoots. So yeah, we're growing, we're learning. Um, and this is a good stage to be in too, of like, wow, I've actually finally stopped being so into my hyperproductivity that I actually am grieving now being in the slower season of life. So that's where I'm at.

I'm proud of you. That's on growth right there. Like, for you to say, I feel like I'm in the most balanced place and not almost like idolizing productivity, which I think that we both do as high achiever, ambitious women who want to do a lot, achieve a lot, and prove to ourselves that we can do a lot. I think that it's really cool to hear how much you have found a lot of sense of security and peace in this balance and integrating more of the rest and the habits that Fuel you so that you can show up in the ways you want to show up in your business and in life. So go you! I do know that anxiety very well, though, like breaking the chain. Like you've been so consistent, and now you know that traveling, even though it's everything you've always dreamed of doing for your job, there's an aspect of it that's like takes you out of the routine, and you're like, "Ugh, I don't want to be out of my routine." So it's a it's interesting like mind loop of like okay, I'm grateful. And I'm also anxious.

Yeah. Well, and speaking of the traveling side of it, I feel like what I'm struggling with too is how to not just be like, screw it this week. You know what I mean? Like, okay, you know what? I'm already going to travel tomorrow all day. I'm going to eat out. Why not just get more time back tonight and eat out tonight so that I can relax a little bit more and be more mentally prepped for tomorrow? And there's just a layer of Because I want to hold on so tight to those habits. And now everything seems to be so busy and taking that away. It's almost like revenge doing it of like, fine, screw it. I'm going to go the whole other extreme. This is kind of like starting to jump into our topic too, of like balancing our traveling entrepreneur. And I definitely feel that tendency to do that. So if you relate, you're, you're not alone. I'm right there, right there with you.

I love it. Do you want to just kick off that, the topic then? Like, let's dive in because I feel like we're naturally already there. It's funny, that's both of our in-betweens too. I love when that happens. We're so aligned with our topics. So let's start there. Let's start with like the revenge that can happen in like, I know going into this week, I might not get as much sleep. And so I'm like, oh, cool. Well, let's just start tonight. Meaning like I'll stay up a little later and read my Kindle because maybe I won't have as much time to read. Or I'll stay up on TikTok and scroll because I know I'm going to be not as much on social media this week, so I better like get it now. And I totally get that. It's like, how do we combat that through reminding ourselves, okay, what is going to honor my body, my time, my energy? And it's kind of checking ourselves when We feel that. I call it like the inner rebel.

Yeah.

And I think our inner rebel can be very healthy. Like, I have a good relationship with my inner rebel. And when she goes off script and she's out here like operating on her own devices and I don't check her behavior, that's when like things get kind of off their rocker where I'm like, oh yeah, I'm really not operating In my zone of like these are my habits and these are my values and here's how I want to show up. I'm like I'm up till one thirty in the morning on TikTok. Like it's like wow we have diverted so much. So acknowledging the inner rebel, acknowledging the desire, and then reminding ourselves okay this isn't really what we want. Like this isn't really really what we need. This might just be like a short term. fleeting desire that we're giving way too much attention.

Absolutely. I feel like something that's helped my inner rebel for this week, as it's going to be so busy, is identifying and pivoting my weekly goals. So I've had, for the most part, set monthly goals for myself of what I'm gonna do. But my partner and I started doing, ever since January, a weekly like tea and talk where we set our goals for the week. And I've never quite done it at such like a shorter timeframe. And it's been very, very beneficial. And so last night as we were chatting through our goals for the week, I was like, it's not realistic for me to work out this many days. It's not realistic for me to have 10K steps. Actually, I'm going to be eating out this many days this week and just going through each of those intentions. And I do feel like in the past, because I didn't have a visible way of adjusting that goal, I just kind of felt guilty for not meeting it, even though I had a very valid reason of like, I'm traveling for work. And without shifting the expectation, I just felt guilty while I was traveling and just trying to hold everything together and like, okay, maybe I'll go at the gym over there. Or like, okay, well, maybe if I'm not too tired, I'll go for a walk in this place. And not that those aren't great and definitely recommend it, But I just think a solid action plan of how you're going to shift in weeks that you're traveling is really beneficial to your mental health, your expectations, and also for communicating for people that might be working with your schedule. And maybe you guys have intertwined lives as well, like with your partner.

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I, I had actually a similar strategy as well of coming up with your kind of non-negotiables of what you need to get done, what's most important to you, what habits are most important to you. So for like my personal habits, I know that I need movement for my mental health. When I don't move my body, even if it's a 30-minute walk, like when I don't take time out to move my body, I feel like my temperament is a little shorter. I feel a little bit more like My my edges feel really sharp. I'm just kind of like, ugh, like I just feel like I need to get out that energy. And so I know that I I've packed three workout outfits, and I'm going to be gone for four days, which means that I am committing to going to the gym. And I specifically picked hotels that had decent gyms. Like you know, I'm trying to plan for.

Mm-hmm.

And also being willing to— maybe I don't work out in the mornings, maybe I'm working out in the afternoons, like, because we're getting in in different times of the day, we're traveling from point A to point B. All that being said, like, can I be flexible with time of day and also, like, committing to I am going to do this for at least 40 minutes or however long the time is? Another one that's really Like strange, but that's important for me is continuing to drink water. I drink so much water when I'm at my house. Like I drink about 70 to 80 ounces of water a day. When I'm traveling, it's like I forget to drink water. Like, and I also, I know that part of that is because like you're using a, maybe you're buying water or I have my reusable Hydro Flask, but even still I'm like, it doesn't taste as good as my filtered water at home. Like, so that's one that I have to pull through.

Yeah.

Of like, okay, we need to prioritize water. We need to like fill our Hydro Flasks, yada, yada, yada. I know that's kind of basic, but that's something that really helps me like stay hydrated. And then the other one is journaling and changing what journaling means. So that could be me writing my thoughts, or I'm like sending Matthew an audio message processing my day. And when I say journaling when I'm traveling, I just mean like processing my day.

Mm-hmm.

And so that could look like me sitting down in the morning and writing, or it could be like me texting you in all caps and being like, this happened today. Like just talking about my day helps me express and process what's happening. And I think that I've realized how important that is for me in whatever form it decides to take.

Mm-hmm.

And so that's where I get to be flexible with myself of like, I want to talk and process and share what's going on in real time, whether that be with myself or with other people. But I've noticed that sometimes when I travel, I can kind of hermit myself even though I'm out and about. I don't know if you're like this, but I like won't always like feel what's happening, if that makes sense. I'll almost like feel it later, or I'm like, oh yeah, that was really cool, or I, I can't believe that conversation. But I'm— have a Sometimes have to work at being present, and so when I journal or when I text you and Matt, which is the only people I text. When I talk to you and tell you what's going on, it's like my way of acknowledging what's happening that day. And I've just noticed how much I I enjoy that, and that like brings a more well-rounded feel to to my day. And then on the business side, can I check in with clients? So can I send them some DMs? Can I respond to their Instagram stories? Can I Send them a quick voice note and letting them know that they're, that I'm still accessible or when I'm not accessible, like, hey, I'm traveling, but I'm still going to be checking DMs. I can still send you voice notes. I can still be there to support you. Or, hey, I'm on PTO, you know, I'm going to be out of office. And so just communicating that, but those are my non-negotiables.

I love that so much. I did not know this about you with the journaling, and I definitely relate with not Realizing sometimes that that experience was so incredible until you're reflecting on the whole trip. So I really love— I'm going to have to implement this. I really love the idea of every day having some sort of journaling to ground yourself in it and kind of soak in the moment and be like, this is so wonderful. So I will report back with my next trip diaries.

Please do. Please do. We do a version of this whenever we travel together called Top 3. I think we've talked about it on the podcast, but just to bring it back, at the end of every night, Astrid and I will share what our top 3 moments of the day are. And I do this now every time I travel with Matt or with family or with friends. And I don't do it by myself. This is what I'm— I'm just learning this. I don't do it by myself when I'm traveling for work. And so I think that's why that like journaling, chatting with you and Matt is kind of the way I process it. Because when I'm like, whenever we're on PTO or we're like on vacation together, I'm feeling every moment, you know?

Yeah.

The sun on my skin, the wind in my hair, the matcha in my hand. Like I am feeling it. But when it's like just me at like, you know, work Alexis, for some reason I like don't process it the same way.

Yeah. Oh my gosh, I 100% agree. I even think back to— I've had the privilege of going to a lot of really great places for work and capturing beautiful elopements and weddings. And it's not afterwards until I'm editing the photos that I'm like, wow, that was so epic. I should go back there and just go for a vacation so I can actually enjoy it.

Yeah.

One of the ones that I vividly remember is Yellowstone and, uh, like all of that, uh, Montana, Wyoming area. I shot the most beautiful engagement of one of my dear friends, and it was just very much fly in, shoot, and then fly out. And I really wish I could have found a way to be present in that work trip or just extended the stay. And so there you go. A few tips on how to stay present. Um, my next suggestion is, this might be very peculiar to me, But if you feel very creative on the plane or when you're traveling, I feel very, very creative when I'm doing those things. I will organize my tasks based on that or the tasks that I've been putting off, like content creation ideation or thinking of something different. I will use that plane time not to catch up on emails or things like that, but more to ideate. And sit and just really romanticize the experience of being on a plane or wherever it is that I'm traveling to and let those ideas flow. Because I feel like something that I've been learning about my feminine side is, and as all of us as women, is our feminine side is very creative. And sometimes we want to just put her in a box of like, this is the day you're going to be creative and this is when you're going to work. And so identifying those times and moments like traveling for work that you already feel naturally like that is like the 3x mode of creativity. So that's something that I really love. Even just for your own life, like maybe you just want to journal, reflect on like, what do you want to be different? What do you love about your life? Like just really sit in with where your life is at or where your business is at. And then I also love if I'm traveling by myself to just treat myself to a really nice dinner and do a solo day and just let myself be. Because sometimes we give, give, give on these trips and we don't take a moment to be like, okay, this is where I'm at and how grateful am I to live this life and have these clients. And I feel like even though I may be tired and it's been a lot of hustle and bustle, if I can find that time to be by myself because I will be socially exhausted. Um, so just a little bit of time by myself and to think through things and have a really good meal. I feel loved and nourished. That is my quality time to myself.

Uh, I love that, and I could not agree more. Time by yourself when you're traveling for work is so important because I feel like then when you come home, you're like, oh, I didn't get any time by myself, and you just feel kind of in like a deficit, like you're kind of, um, pulling from an empty well. And so are there times where you can spend that time by yourself, set boundaries? Like even on work trips when I'm with colleagues, I'm like, oh yeah, I need to go back to my room for an hour or 30 minutes. Or, oh, I'm going to work out in the morning. I won't be able to make— I won't be able to meet you for breakfast, but I will be ready to go when we leave the hotel at 8 AM. Things like that, just communicating when you need that time too and not feeling guilty. I have— I feel like I'm a recovering FOMO person. I don't know the right way to say that. But I really do love people. I love— when I say to party, I don't mean like party, like let's get crazy. I love when people are together and that party energy. Like, oh, we're only here in this conference in, you know, LA once. We're only in London at this beautiful, like, spa hotel once. Like, there is that FOMO feeling of wanting to capture the moment and be in the moment. And so if you know that you're like that, if you're like me, can you prepare for that FOMO? Meaning, can you set aside a time for yourself earlier in the day Even if it's 15 minutes or an hour, or you need to send that really important email, like give yourself permission to step away so that you can do what needs to be done. So then when the moment arises and you really want to be there, you aren't feeling that gnawing feeling of that task that you should have done sometime throughout the day, or that time maybe you should have taken for yourself. You don't feel that like guilt coming in. It's like, well, I really do want to go. You know, out for drinks after this dinner, but I really have to go back and send that email. It's like, okay, could you have found 15 minutes earlier in the day to do that so that then you can seize the moment kind of thing? And that that's something I've been working on as well. Of like, back to my list of tasks for the week is okay. I know what needs to be done, and so I need to use the pockets of time wisely so that when I'm at lunch with Pat. I'm at lunch with Pat. I'm not thinking about, oh yeah, I need to do this for the summit that's coming up in 3 weeks. And we've got this YouTube video with this YouTube partner that's coming out. Like, I just get to be present. So I love that. How do you manage your personal relationships while— now that sounds so corporate. How do you manage your personal relationships? How do you like— you're traveling for work, you're in work mode. You're accessing a different part of yourself. How do you stay connected with friends or Nick or your family? That's something I really struggle with. And just being very vulnerable, like, I don't think I've cracked the code on this because sometimes I just leave people on read and I'm like, I want to talk, but like, I just don't have the capacity. How do you handle that?

Yeah, I guess I didn't realize that it was a bad thing, but—

No, it's not a bad thing at all. I just think I have guilt about it because I feel like I need to like I don't know. I have this, I need to be responding to everybody all the time anxiety, which is my own shit to manage. But how do you manage it?

Teach me. Well, it is hard whenever you know someone you love is reaching out and you're not able to get back to them. I think for me, especially when traveling for work, I see this as this is my game day. I'm locked in. My phone is in the locker. I am 1,000% all in the field. You can't reach me. I am at the Super Bowl. Okay.

Wait, I am dead at this analogy. She goes, phone is in the locker. Oh my gosh, that's perfect. Okay.

But truly, the days and the times that I have been more interactive, or I'll have a call with my sister on the way to a wedding, I do feel like even though I enjoyed that call, it took some energy and now I have to get back into creative flow 30 minutes prior to arriving. And that doesn't feel like a good service to my clients compared to if on the drive there I'm thinking about the venue, I'm thinking about the weather, I'm thinking about their engagement session and things that I really loved. And not from a planning perspective, but just feeling it in my body. And I feel like my creativity just shows up so much differently than that, like, I don't know, talking to my sister on the way to work and then I'm like clocking in at noon. I don't, I don't like that for my personal work. So yeah, I think that for the most part, I do give my family a heads up like, hey, I'm shooting this day, or I'm traveling this day. And I think the heads up is what has allowed for, I guess, no one to be upset. If they have been upset, they haven't really told me. I would say sometimes when I've traveled for work and it's been multiple days, like the Italy one, there were times where I just was not communicating as much and people were like, are you okay? How's everything going? Just making sure you're okay. But I feel like there's that grace card because they understand I'm on the go and On my end, maybe this is terrible, but I don't feel bad because it's my job. That's literally what they're paying me to do is be fully giving them my 1000% attention. But yeah, I think after that, I normally will stay a few days after the shoot to enjoy the city or whatever. And then I connect back with family. Or normally what I do is on my drive back from a wedding or just going back to my hotel room, I'll call my boyfriend or I'll text my mom and I'll send her some pictures from the day and that's it. Just at the end of it all. But personally, I just really like to protect my energy going into something that requires so much energy out of me.

Yeah, I love that. She has her boundaries firm, ladies and gentlemen. I have to pay for those boundaries. I'm kidding. Don't feel bad about it because you shouldn't feel bad about it. Like, I think you're right. I think I, I try to be on call all the time because I think it makes me feel important. LOL. But to unpack that—

no, I'm kidding.

What did you say? Do you want to unpack that? Not today. I will with my therapist next week. But yeah, you're right. Like, the most important thing I can do is be present and be be ready for why I'm there, why I was hired, or in this case, like why I was sent by my team. So I, I love that. I also think like setting the expectations, that was one of my, one of my, um, tips as well when I'm traveling for work is one, setting expectations with clients. I already mentioned that of like being slower to respond, having my autoresponder on at work too. Like, hey, I'm, I am traveling for work. And that means that this part of my work will be slower. And just communicating that has been really helpful. Also communicating with Matthew, like we're recording this on a Monday. I'm traveling Tuesday to Friday. I get back late Friday night. I have already told Matthew how I want to spend my weekend. And like setting the expectations of that as well. Like, hey, I'm, I am going to be coming in Friday night. I'm going to feel so excited about the week. And I also know that I'm going to be low energy. And so Saturday, if you want to go do things, you want to go golfing, you want to— or if you want to spend time with me, I'm down for that. But like, I'm going to need to be at our home with our dog horizontal. Like, I don't want to do anything. And he's like, yeah, totally. Sounds great. Like, we'll make food at home. And just setting that expectation versus I get home Saturday morning, I wake up and he's like, oh, I've got this plan. Like, we're going to go do this. And what do you think? I'm like, no. Like, that's just not, not it. So any way that you can set expectations with the people in your life or the people at work, um, is really helpful. Let's talk about content because I feel like you and I both obviously love Instagram. We love sharing content. We love filming, shooting, all the things. How do you manage sharing when you're traveling? Because I do feel like there's an aspect of When people are going on trips, people are people perk up. I would say to people's content, like not that everyday life is not interesting, but when someone that you follow who you love following their life is traveling, you're kind of like, "Ooh, I'm so excited to follow along on this trip." I mean, I know that you've had people say that to you. I can't wait to follow along on this trip or follow along on this wedding. How do you manage like? Posting. And then obviously, like, we've talked so much about being present, but then there's also this, like, I sometimes have this desire slash pressure to be like, okay, I need to post. I need to, like, be posting. How do you manage that?

Hmm. I love this question. I feel like there's a few layers to that for me. One is the pre-trip prep of like, this is the content that I want to get. And then I. I'll save a lot of inspiration, but then before leaving, I'll narrow it down to a digestible, like under 10 videos or whatever. And then I link them in my notes so I don't have to like dig through Instagram. I'm like, okay, this is what I really want to shoot throughout the time that I'm there. Because what I have found is sometimes if I'm like, I'll save a lot of ideas and then I, in the moment, you're so busy, you're go, go, go, you're dressed up, you're about to go into, you know, something. And then you're like, what was the idea? And I just blank out and I'm like, oh, it's fine. I don't really need it. And then I wish I would have prepared better. So one is preparing any intentional content, but if it's, there's nothing specific that I need to shoot, I will just shoot things that I think are pretty, just like I do for my job. I'll shoot the moment, the landscape, zoomed in things, whatever. And then I love 3x. Yes. And then I love, um, either if there's like an in-between Where, haha, pun intended. Um, when we are like, if I shoot in the morning and then I get to come back to the hotel and then shoot in the evening, I would just like lay on the bed and then favorite, go through my content and favorite the ones from the day. And then I'll just post them to Instagram all at once. I'm not really one to post in the moment, but I do like posting either day of or the next day if it's been like so busy. But I have found that if I let it go more than a day or two, it's too overwhelming. And then you'll never see me on Instagram until I just post like the 4th day into my trip. So, um, so that's kind of like what's worked for me in Europe for the most part. I was posting like 24 to 48 hours afterwards, just depending on what the travel day looked like the day before.

That needs to be studied. That he thinks that is because I'm the same way. Like, I can post something from yesterday, but when it comes to posting like 2, 3 days after, I, I get overwhelmed. It also feels like stale content for some reason, which is not— it's not true. No one's even seen it because no one knows what I've been doing besides me. But I'm like, oh, this isn't fresh, this isn't fresh enough. But I, I'm the same way. I have been Filming a lot of content B-roll with my tripod, and like I've just been filming a lot. And then you'll still see reels from Spain. Like you you're seeing them. I posted one last week. You'll still see them. And I think that because for me what I've realized, okay, here's how I put it in my brain: feed posts like posts carousel posts to me. That needs to happen like recency effect. That for me, that needs to like happen that week or like right after. Like I just was in Spain. I posted some in Spain. I posted some right after. And then now I can't post anything else about that. Like on the feed.

Okay.

Reels, video content of any kind. It has no expiration date. I don't, I don't make it make sense. I don't make the rules, but like that's how my brain works. I'm like, oh, this reel content that I filmed. 6 months ago, yeah, we're gonna pull that into this reel. But for some reason, me posting an in-feed like carousel post of something that happened 2 months ago just feels very odd to me.

But it's mysterious. Like, am I there now? And maybe not. Maybe I am.

I also— maybe that's the thing is I'm not mysterious at all. And like, you will know. What's that? I said that to you and Kate. I am the most chalant person. I've never been nonchalant. Like I've never been, oh yeah, like nonchalant mysterious. That's not me. So maybe that's why I feel like I have to post in the feed when it happens. I don't know. We're, we're dissecting this, but this is amazing. I do feel like this is sometimes, especially when you're like, you have a brand that has built around travel. Like if you were to ask, anybody who follows us, 3 things that come to mind when they think of us, I would say travel would be in the top 3.

Yeah.

So because of that association and because I do genuinely love it, there is this content management piece. And also my DMs when I travel are always, you know how the DMs will be like 20+? When it's reached over 20. When I travel, we're living in the 20 plus. When I'm—

that's me every day, baby. No, I'm kidding. Congratulations.

Don't know her. No, I mean, because I don't respond. That is hilarious. I respond. No shit.

I'm kidding.

I respond to every DM. I try. Like, I would say I respond to 97% of DMs. And when I'm traveling, There's also the DM component. And like, I want to respond. I try to respond before that story expires.

That's an amazing goal.

Thank you. I probably should focus on other metrics in my life, but for some reason this one's really freaking important. Okay. So I'm learning so much. I'm dead. Okay.

Okay. Wait, I have to add to that because an aspect of traveling as an entrepreneur is I do feel like I'm on top of it when it comes to posting to my photo page, but on my personal page, like I am sitting on so much content, literally from Italy and Europe of last year that I never made it to the feed at all. And I was laughing when you were saying like the in-feed carousel needs to be one week. Cause I was like, next week, maybe I'll just dump all of Italy. Content from a year ago.

You should, because the thing is, is like, I still enjoy consuming that content from other people, and I will, I will like and comment, baby. Okay, so don't, don't let me stop you. But for some reason, it's like a weird internal thing where I'm like, oh, this isn't fresh, I need to post it. Um, and I do feel like I get more engagement when I'm posting from that trip that I'm on versus posting something weeks after, it's like, oh cool, these are pretty pictures, but it's not like, oh, she's there right now. We're in the moment. We're with her. Like the community feel of it, that real-time feel. Anyways, those are some things that I think about when I'm traveling.

Okay. So to recap for our traveling entrepreneurs, if you are wanting to create more content or overall, if you're using social media to market, just go ahead and prep for your next trip and what content you want to create, whether it's B-roll, whether it's asking somebody else to take videos of you while you're working. Like there's so many different ways to do it. But overall, I do think that Reels and TikToks, um, have been a great tool for it. And part of it is to prep, prep how we're going to shoot that while we're traveling and managing all the workload as well.

Yeah. Love the tip on Linking the inspiration in a note because you're so right in the moment. I do get very overwhelmed and I'm like, let me go back and look for trending audios or look for things. And I end up not recording certain trending things just because I can't find it and I'm overwhelmed. And then I end up just taking a picture and posting that on my feed instead.

I love it. You know what? We love your in-feed posts. We're all going to be like doubling down on them. Um, okay. I have one last Last tip for our traveling entrepreneurs, and that is if you find yourself being slightly ADHD like myself and maybe you have a little bit of time blindness from time to time, something that really helps me on a busy travel week is to one, already look up the address of where it is that I'm going to be going, whether it's the airport or a venue, and then go ahead and block out that drive time that you're going to have To the place, and especially if you're going to be flying into somewhere else and driving in a location you're not familiar with, and then adding that buffer time into it. And so for me, that's helped with just easing my anxiety, easing to my schedule. Like, I don't have to think day to day, like, okay, what time do I need to leave the hotel so that I can have breakfast so that I can make it to the venue in time? I just do that at the forefront, and then I can just follow the game plan, uh, while I'm traveling. And then same with like where I'm going to eat, especially if it's on a day that I'm going to be working like a shoot day, I will likely have my options narrowed down of where I'm going to eat breakfast, where I'm going to eat dinner, and then all of my routes figured out. And I just feel like it allows me to really focus on the day and not be overthinking it too much, as well as stay on schedule. Because for me, I drive a lot for work. So that is my last tip. Did you have any other tips?

I love the idea of knowing where you're going to eat. This is very, very important. Yes to everything you said. And I want to zero in on something that has really helped me keep like a very low stress because I know where I'm going to eat. And a lot of times when I'm traveling, I am With clients, and so if I'm picking the restaurant, I'm like okay. I know the restaurant. I know. I even know like the average price per entrée since I'm working within a budget. That really helps me. I'll send it to the person, make sure they don't have any dietary restrictions, or there's a gluten-free menu or a dairy-free menu. Things like that. But that really helps, and I have planned a lot of team dinners as well. And so I think just having some of those details. Locked in prior to even landing. And something else I love to do is I will Google Street View my hotel, obviously make sure like, are we in a safe area? Do we like what we're seeing? But then within about a 2-block radius, I'll go on Google Maps and I'll save coffee shops or like quick health cafes. Like, oh, this is a good smoothie place. This place has fresh juice. And if I really am on the go and I don't have time, In that moment to look for a bunch of places, I will have already done that research and I can just pull up my Google Maps, look at where, you know, past me, I was like, ooh, this looks good. And I'll just go there, grab something quick in between wherever I'm going. So I love this conversation. I love laughing with you and I love like how similar we are, but also how different we are too. And we, when it comes to travel and content and All the things. But if you have tips and you travel a lot for work, let us know. Send us a DM. I'm always curious and I always stop and take that kind of content in of safety tips for women traveling when it comes to managing their time or when it comes to even items that you should have in your carry-on. I love that kind of content. If you have tips, send them our way. You can do that at inbetween.pod. And if you want to connect with me personally, you can do that at Alexis Teichmiller.

And you can connect with me at Astra Johanna Photo. Thank you all so much for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.