Just over ten years ago, Kylie Carlson started her business in a spare bedroom overlooking her garden.Her goal? To bring it to the masses.Traveling helped her become a worldwide success story.“I have always loved to travel, discover new places and generally be inspired by different cultures,” said Carlson, founder of the Academy of Wedding and Event Planning in Melbourne, Australia, who has lived on three different continents.“Each one has given me a completely different experience. If you want to do business globally, you need to know and understand the psyche behind each place you plan to do business in. And the only way to do that is to experience it yourself. You need to be a part of each community, understand what makes them tick, what they respond to and how to sell to them.”MORE Features & AdviceToday, Carlson’s motivation to travel is to help her daughter’s competitive figure skating career, but she has learned how to turn this time spent on the road to expand her business.“My daughter was a competitive figure skater who represented her country and this meant a whole load of travel,” said Carlson. “We moved from our home in Melbourne to Lake Arrowhead in California and spent two years there for her to train with an Olympic coach. This gave me the opportunity I was looking for. While she was busy training each day, I would drive down the mountain and network with others in the industry, and slowly but surely I started to understand this new culture. Within a few months, I had launched the North American side of my business.”Carlson returned to Britain, after living there as a child, but realized that being there as a business person was different.“It was about re-educating myself on how the British did business, what drew them in and what made them fall in love with a brand,” she said.Within two years, the UK campus was thriving and she then traveled to Dubai.“Doing business in the GCC region was a real eye-opener,” she said. “None of the tricks I had learned across the other regions really worked here, and it was about immersing myself in the culture and being completely open to new ways of presenting my product.”Jacqueline Hill, owner of Jacqueline Events & Design LLC in Dallas, Texas says it’s important for her to see how other cities operate differently in the event world.“Through traveling and making myself available to go places, I have been able to make connections that have opened amazing doors for my company,” she said.Hill has booked two high-profile events in the industry during her travels in the past year: “Through the connections I made on trips, I was able to pick up a new vendor that is on my preferred list now. Travel isn't free, but I've found I receive far more in return for the trips I have taken.”Paula Ramirez, proprietress for Historic Mankin Mansion Wedding Resort in Richmond, Virginia said that traveling has been beneficial for her business success in several ways: “I'm able to meet new and interesting people and it has broadened my perspective on culture and style. Travel has given me a more open-minded and globally sensitive view to new ideas and opinions.”The sights and sounds of travel have heightened her awareness and understanding of varying religions, beliefs and lifestyle choices.“Above all else, traveling around the world has given me an appreciation for life that I may otherwise have never known, opening my mind to increase, creativity and abundance,” she said.Kristen Gill is a travel writer, photographer, and consultant in the travel industry world, concentrating on adventure and sustainable travel. She credits traveling with her business success.“Traveling taught me how to open my eyes, pay attention to detail, be imaginative, think on the spot, be resourceful, ask for more information, take risks and give back,” said Gill, owner of Kristen Gill Media.READMORE: 2018 Will be 'Year of the Travel Agent'Tesla Miller says that travel has unequivocally helped her succeed in her personal life and career.“Prior to my career, I traveled and did study and internships abroad, which exposed me to many different economies, cultures, and points-of-view,” said Miller, president of The Fifth House in Denver, Colorado. “This set the stage for the milestones I would later go on to meet in my global career.”Miller had a 20-year career where she designed global strategy for retail and franchise brands operating across seven continents: “Most recently, I served as Director of International Business Development and Global Consumer Insights at FOCUS brands International and was responsible for 3,800 outlets across 63 countries. During my career, travel was how I did my job. To be successful abroad, I had to quickly learn to build rapport and trust with locals, teams and partners.”One of the most important elements Miller learned when she traveled was to always find commonalities.“Never focus on the differences between yourself and the people of a different place,” she said. “This opens your mind and puts you in an optimistic and team-building frame of mind.”