How To Have A Long Distance Relationship

It has of course, its fair share of issues; skyping at all hours, missed phone dates, expensive travel, lack of knowledge on what someone is doing at any given time, trust issues and hours of thinking about someone that you may not see for weeks or even months, missed special occasions, etc.

On the flip side it is exciting, you get rid of the staggered dating process fairly fast if you have long breaks together in each others cities or country, you get to know them more intimately than if you lived in the same city - faster, there is a certain amount of commitment both sides because of the distance, you get deeply entrenched in their lives in a way that you may not have before and because of cost, you realise fairly fast whether you want to be together, because, let's face it, who wants to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars for no return on investment?

IN BUSINESS, a long distance relationship may mean that you have expanded your business to another suburb (or county), State or Country. It's a little different to a personal relationship but there are some similarities.

1. Cost: It's a big financial commitment to open a business interstate or overseas, so it's important that you are completely 100 percent committed to the expansion plans and seeing your business succeed in another market. It's important to weigh up the costs and ascertain if the investment is worthwhile and the target market is ripe for seeing your business succeed.
2.  Communication: Communicating with your team no matter where they are located is imperative to your businesses success. Ensure that you invest heavily in talking to your team on a regular basis to help them get the business off the ground in the designated region and then over time, taper off to a more reasonable communication timeline that is consistent with the overall business culture and structure.
3.  Talk through issues: Like any relationship, it's important to talk through the issues and find resolutions before they actually become problems. Sometimes your team may just need to get things off their chest. Take time to think about it overnight and get back to them the next day when both parties can look at the issue clearly.
4.  Think positively and think big: Always looking on the up-side and keeping your team motivated and ready to tackle any issue that may cross their paths with a firm vision in hand is always a great way to achieve goals. Make sure everyone knows where the company is heading and what the reward is should they reach this goal. Encourage everyone in the team to think big - that means in terms of their careers and the business.
5.  Distance is only a 8 letter word. Don't give too much importance to something you cannot control and place all your emphasis in things that you can. What may seem like a long distance relationship today, may not be tomorrow.

Mellissah Smith, Atlanta, Marketing Blog writer for Marketing Eye