Mileage runs: how an airport layover can open your mind for business

Dateline: Houston, United States

I’m at the Houston airport’s United Club now, spending a three-hour layover on a mileage run that will take me in every direction across the U.S. over the course of fourteen hours today.  I’ve always felt strangely at home at airports; they’re a great place to let your imagination run wild.

Ever since my mother put a huge map of the world on my bedroom wall at age eight, I’ve wondered what it would be like to take off to all sorts of far-reaching places.

Surrounded here by ultra-frequent-fliers leaving to conduct business in all sorts of places (some of these people are serious George Clooney “Up in the Air” types), I’ve been passing the time keeping an eye on the departing flight’s board, letting my imagination run wild.

Dubai. Amsterdam. Moscow. Panama City. Singapore. Lagos. Rio.

As an entrepreneur, it’s imperative to keep an open mind and stay open to new opportunities.

Let the departure board be a reminder to do just that, on a scale greater than you may have ever thoughts possible.  Every one of those cities and the many more offer a unique opportunity waiting to be cultivated.

Whether it’s oil services in Brazil, commodities in Australia, or high-tech in Singapore, each place offers its own path for you to take hold of, and countless other tangents you can develop to stake your claim.

Don’t constrain yourself to one city, one country, or even one hemisphere. Think globally and explore what each place, even (perhaps especially) those up-and-coming places most of your fellow citizens couldn’t find on a map, can offer you.

Then be ready to take the opportunity best suited to your goals and ambitions and grab hold of it.

Get yourself on a tarmac and be ready to take flight.