The Accidental Entrepreneur, The Survivor Edition

7Leaping into new markets

Travelling for Boost took me back to those early years wandering the world before Boost began — and between missed flights, lost luggage and stumbling straight into meetings without sleep, it sometimes felt like I hadn’t advanced much on my backpacker days! Definitely those early years as a traveller helped to prepare me for the rigours and surprises of working in new environments overseas.

A rainbow of culture

Focusing on international markets and travelling for Boost meant I experienced all kinds of amazing cultural practices, from the boardroom to national festivals. I have honoured the practice of Ramadan during a visit to Malaysia and sat opposite a full Arab board, in traditional white flowing dishdasha, in Kuwait. On the king’s birthday in Thailand I have worn traditional yellow in celebration, and acknowledged the hierarchy order when entering a room. I’ve even learned the simple but important ways to present your business card in different cultures.

My most memorable day-to-day experiences come from sampling local fruits as we localise the menu in each region. Each location has its own unique local fruits — some of which I’d never tasted before — and this made for some very interesting tastes. Some that were not necessarily that good, but some that were amazing surprise discoveries!

A major challenge of working internationally is the language barrier. This sometimes requires interpreters, extending even to the interpretation of body language. ...