Tag Archives: women

Tips for Women Travelling Solo

WomanAloneAirportThis past Tuesday was International Women’s Day. Originally called International Working Women’s Day, this date was designated to celebrate and respect women for their achievements in economics, politics and social status.

In spite of women achieving near equality with our male counterparts here in North America, women must still exercise a significantly greater degree of caution when travelling alone.

Regardless of whether you are travelling for business or for pleasure, as a woman there are many precautions that you should take in order to ensure your personal safety throughout your journey.  Even though a certain locale may seem safe, as a precaution women should always have their guard up and be aware of their surroundings.

Some General Precautions for Women Travelling Solo:

 Keep an eye on your belongings and NEVER leave them unattended.womanwithbaggageatgate Leaving your belongings unattended not only puts you at risk for theft, but may make you a target for drug smuggling if you are travelling in a foreign country. For example, even if you left your baggage with a hotel concierge, be sure to rip your bag apart and inspect it thoroughly because you never know if someone could have put any sort of illegal substances in your bag. If you fail to do this and unknowingly bring illegal substances with you through an international border, customs will not sympathize with you as you are personally responsible for all of your belongings.  Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse.

Be aware of other people who may be staring at you and/or your belongings for prolonged periods of time. manStaringAtWomanFor example, if you are sitting in a restaurant and every time you glance over at a particular person, they are staring at you then I would strongly suggest that you move along to another safe highly public place.  If returning to your hotel room, approach the front desk and bring it to their attention and have someone from the hotel escort you to your room if necessary. Excessive gawking is not a compliment.

wtfBe wary of other travellers who express too much interest in your itinerary. It is one thing for fellow travellers to exchange basic information about where each other are going (generally speaking) and what kind of work you do, but if someone starts asking you details about your accommodations such as your hotel, room number or other highly specific information that should otherwise have no relevance to them, do not provide such details.  End the conversation and be on your way.


AirportApprovedTaxiOnly use transportation provided and approved by the airport and/or hotel or rent a car from a recognized company. 

There are many individuals who may be operating these vehicles illegally which can put you at risk of a variety of dangers ranging from being overcharged to risking physical harm in extreme cases.

 

Girl Jogging on a bridge

Do NOT listen to music using your headphones when walking, jogging or sitting in public places. Without your sense of hearing, you will be extremely vulnerable to attack or theft because you won’t even hear someone approach you.

 

 

NEVER leave your drink or food unattended. food drinkIt is now quite common for women to be drugged not only in their drink but also in their food.  If you have to go to the washroom, take all of your belongings with you and finish your food and drink before you go. You can always order a refreshment upon your return to the table.

 

Beware of “Female Friendly Networks” and “Meet-ups” aimed towards female solo travellers. Women-networking-onlineI recently became aware of a website which claims to be a networking site for solo female travellers. It recommends “Female Friendly Hotels” and offers an online network of female travellers which you can join and meet up with in your travels.  This is HIGHLY DANGEROUS! I don’t even have an account but I can go on this website and see which women by first and last name are travelling to specific cities on specific dates and very likely using one of the “Female Friendly Hotels” suggested on this website.  If I was a predator, this website makes it all to easy to target women travelling alone and not only that, women who are travelling alone and who are LONELY enough to reach out to strangers on the internet and clearly don’t have anyone else to meet up with at their destination. All it takes is going on this website, making a few phone calls to ask if the traveller is registered at any of those hotels during the dates they specified and boom! Might as well wear a target sign on your backs ladies!

woman on cell phoneAlways make sure at least one person knows where you are and check-in with others regularly. I’m not saying report your every move, but rather be sure to have someone whether it is a supervisor or a friend that you will communicate with at least once per day however briefly.  This way, if anything were to happen to you, at least someone would know.

 

To some, my list may seem paranoid but as far as I am concerned, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.  It is still possible to have a great time when travelling solo and to always have your wits about you and be aware of your surroundings. If you travel often, these behaviors will all become second nature.

 

So, travel safe my friends and have fun!

 

Cheers,

TSW

Do Men Make Better Sales Representatives?

 

Let’s face it ladies, how often do we say “No” to men on a daily, weekly or yearly basis? Regardless of the context, women are more often in the position to say “No” to men and to have that answer accepted without incident.

The reality is, we still live in a society where gender roles play a huge part in our day to day lives and whether we like to accept it or not, mmalevsfemaleen and women are not equal.  Men are much more likely to be the aggressor, the alpha, the initiator, the one to ask directly for what they want and not be afraid of hearing “No” as a response.  That being said, the more men ask, the more often they hear “No” and “Yes”.  If men were put off by every “No” that they heard, they certainly wouldn’t keep asking.  Basic psychology suggests that if there is a chance at even obtaining the slightest reward, one shall seek it repeatedly without extinction.

Women on the other hand, are used to being pursued by men.  Most women, and I am speaking generally here, are more frequently pursued by men than they do actively pursue men and thus are more often in a position to decline the advance than to face rejection themselves.

So how does this translate to sales?

Bottom line is, men are simply much more used to rejection because they face it more often than women do.

Men are used to asking and hearing “No”.

Women are used to being asked and saying “No”.

I’m sure some of you alpha female sales and business women like myself are reading this and thinking, “What are you talking about? If I want something, I go out and get it!”. Yes, that is what I do and yes, there are many women like myself out there who go out, get what they want and don’t fear rejection. After all, the only way to be successful in life is to take risks and do whatever it takes to get what you want and that always involves some sort of rejection or disappointment of some sort. Nothing in life is easy. You have to fight for everything. However, the majority of women are not alpha females, which is a relatively new concept in itself.

In sales, the primary reason that sales representatives are afraid to ask for the sale, is a simple fear of rejection. 

So, my question to you fellow sales and business professionals:  If men are so much more accustomed to rejection than women, does that qualify them as better sales reps than women?

Generally speaking, women are sensitive and emotional beings, much more so than their male counterparts.  If a woman asks for a sale, and is declined, is she that much more easily discouraged than a man?  And thus, less likely to ask for future sales in fear of facing that same rejection?

Furthermore, do women find it more difficult to live a life on the road than men? How many female truck drivers do you see on the road? How many business women do you see in the airport? Certainly less than men.

I remember I was once told by one of my male superiors that “You women need more time to relax and regroup than a man.” when I was asking for a day off after a long business trip.

When I heard that comment, I didn’t know how to take it.  On the one hand, I was slightly offended. Did he think I was some sort of princess because I wanted a day to relax after a long trip and get my home back in order?  But that got me thinking: “Would a man need that day off as well? Or would a man just jump right back into the office? If a man would just go right back to work with no time off, does that make a man a better road warrior than me? 

After seriously doubting myself, I came to the conclusion that “Thank goodness I’m not a man because otherwise, I probably  wouldn’t have gotten that day off!”. I believe that anyone who works hard enough needs a rest at some point, otherwise you simply burn out.

Whether we like to admit it or not, we live in a sexist society full of gender stereotypes.  In my opinion and theoretically speaking of course, men should be better at “asking for the sale” than women simply because they have more experience doing this starting at a very young age!

When it comes down to getting the sale, I believe it is all about your individual personality and the degree of persistence and ambition that you have as a sales rep. However your ability to accept rejection is something you must get a solid grasp on in order to be successful in sales.   Although men may have a head start in that regard, over time if you’re in sales long enough, regardless of your gender, you grow tough skin and learn to take rejection quite well.

And for life on the road, I think more men typically make this a career because even though they may have families, more often than not it is the woman who will stay home with the children.

For those of you reading this, I would love to hear your views on whether one gender or neither has an advantage over the other and to hear any stories you may have had encountering sexism or stereotypes in your career.

I look forward to hearing your feedback and discussing this with you all!

Cheers,

TSW