Budget travelers, like CEOs, have painful lives that they live in order to experience the rewards. That’s the hard truth – for all those beautiful cityscapes and sunsets, the IPOs and the successful buyouts, there’s a price to pay. Constant worry about your belongings and assets. Lots and lots of budget woes. Tons of tense moments involving random strangers who may not speak the same language you do and unruly employees who need equal parts cajoling and censure. Here are the 5 things that have saved me time, money and discomfort as a budget traveler – which will help CEOs as well!:

CEOs Tip 01: Know when to spend money

Most people either try to pack everything they can into a single backpack and then discover later that they’ve simply brought too much – in a lot of cases after spending money to buy their items in the first place. This is not optimum. You need to be tuned into your business – or travel plan well enough to know what you need to get going – everything else can be acquired, either for barter or purchase, on the road. This helps by keeping cash in your pocket in case of emergencies or, as point 2 will highlight – for exploiting opportunities.

CEOs Tip 02: Exploit All Opportunities Available

Nothing can be completely planned for – just as bad things will happen to you, good things will too! Perhaps a friend will offer to drive you to the next town. Perhaps a very highly skilled resource will agree to come aboard for a fraction of their salary at an international firm. You can’t predict these things and you shouldn’t try to. What you should do is be flexible enough to exploit them when they do come up. Keep a small slush fund for such eventualities. More importantly, cultivate the mental attitude that will let you be flexible.

CEOs Tip 03: Invest In Technology

Just because something is expensive, doesn’t mean it isn’t useful. If it saves time, money and isn’t a resource sink, go for it. Always keep an eye on that productivity meter. A solar mobile phone charger may not be worth much in the city, but when you want to navigate by GPS in the backwoods 100 miles from civilization, you can bet your bottom dollar you’ll want a fully charged battery then! Just because that new content management system is expensive doesn’t mean its not worth it, if it frees up your employees to focus on creating great content.

CEOs Tip 04: Smile

Sometimes the difference between success and failure is a hearty smile. A positive attitude is super important in the boardroom and on the road. Even if you feel like the world is crumbling, a smile on your face will convice the next person you need to help you that you’re not letting go, you’re not defeated, you’re not done. Even if you ARE done, they’ll help you pick yourself up. Which is important, because somewhere along the line you’re going to fail at something. And that’s where tip # 5 comes in:

CEOs Tip 05: Fail. Lots.

When you fail, that’s when you know what you’re truly made of. When you’ve lost money to a tout because you believed he’d get you into that monument, when you agree to getting funded at what turns out to be a disastrous valuation number – when your entire life seems like it’s all about one momentary bad decision – that’s when you need to remember that this is part of the plan. You have failed so you could learn. So that the next time, you’ll haggle more with the bus driver in Bolivia who wants a small fortune to get you to the next village. So that you won’t make that expensive hire that destroys the morale of your small team in order to get a rockstar designer. You have failed so that you can evolve and be better.

If you liked this piece, please do leave a comment and tell me! I need encouragement too!