• Home
  • Start Here
  • About
  • FIRE
    • Investing
  • Podcast
    • Podcast Season 1
    • Podcast Season 2
    • Coaching Series: Christina
    • Coaching Series: Jaymie
    • Coaching Series: Andrew
    • Coaching Series: Keith
    • Stats and Feedback
  • Rebel Finance School
    • RFS Financial Forecasting
    • Disclaimer
  • Blogs
  • Contact
    • FAQ
    • Press
  • The Extraordinary
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 1 Extraordinary
    • Chapter 2 We are where we are!
    • Chapter 3: If you want different results do different things
  • Debt Petition
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • About
  • FIRE
    • Investing
  • Podcast
    • Podcast Season 1
    • Podcast Season 2
    • Coaching Series: Christina
    • Coaching Series: Jaymie
    • Coaching Series: Andrew
    • Coaching Series: Keith
    • Stats and Feedback
  • Rebel Finance School
    • RFS Financial Forecasting
    • Disclaimer
  • Blogs
  • Contact
    • FAQ
    • Press
  • The Extraordinary
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 1 Extraordinary
    • Chapter 2 We are where we are!
    • Chapter 3: If you want different results do different things
  • Debt Petition
ALANDONEGAN.COM
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • About
  • FIRE
    • Investing
  • Podcast
    • Podcast Season 1
    • Podcast Season 2
    • Coaching Series: Christina
    • Coaching Series: Jaymie
    • Coaching Series: Andrew
    • Coaching Series: Keith
    • Stats and Feedback
  • Rebel Finance School
    • RFS Financial Forecasting
    • Disclaimer
  • Blogs
  • Contact
    • FAQ
    • Press
  • The Extraordinary
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 1 Extraordinary
    • Chapter 2 We are where we are!
    • Chapter 3: If you want different results do different things
  • Debt Petition

Blog

Welcome to Alan Donegan's blog.  Start reading for help investing, financial independence, life style design and many mini-experiments!
Picture

    Author

    Alan Donegan: Rebel Business School Co-Founder, Rebel Entrepreneur podcast host, Rebel Finance School co-founder and Queen's award winner.  Marvel movie fan fanatic, breakfast lover and financial independent traveller

    Picture

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018

    Categories

    All
    Book Project
    Entrepreneurship
    FIRE
    Follow Your Dreams
    Fun
    Investing
    Project Hollywood
    Self Development
    Self-Development
    Seo-experiment

    RSS Feed

Back to Blog

Geo-arbitrage meetings

15/1/2019

 
Where do you go for your business meetings? Where do you hang out with your friends for the weekend? 

For the second year running the PopUp Business School has come to Poland for it's annual team retreat and to plan the year.   Most of the team live in England so why would we all get on a plane and come to Poland?
PopUp Business School Team Retreat 2019
The PopUp Business School Team in Gdansk, Poland for the 2019 team retreat
The answer is fairly simple.  It is cheaper and so much cooler! Read on to see the maths and reasons and some ideas to inspire you to do more with your team meetings.....

Is it really cheaper to come to Poland?

The first year we did a team retreat we went up to London and stayed in a nice hotel near Waterloo and worked from the communal areas. There was only 4 of us at that one so it was easy to hang out in cafes and other areas.  The event was only 2 nights away so it wasn't that bad.  It still cost £47 return on the train £80 a night in the hotel and then every meal was £80 so it soon mounted up!  But as there was only 4 of us it wasn't that bad!

Since then the numbers of people at PopUp have grown massively and we are now up to 12 of us!  We have done team retreats all over the place:

  • Hotel in Latimer (no one knows where this is; not even us!)
  • A hotel attached to Wimbledon's football stadium in Milton Keynes
  • A 8 bed Airbnb in Oxfordshire
  • 9 bed barn conversion in Cambridgeshire
  • Warsaw!
  • This year we are in Gdansk

Why do you care? Doing our team meetings like this is the complete opposite of most companies and we find it get's us better results and we have a better time.  
Alan Donegan surrounded by post-it notes
Alan Surrounded by post it notes in Poland
PopUp Business School Team
PopUp Business School team working on the company mission
A week versus a day.  In most companies they get together for an away day and have a normal meeting.  How much can you get done in a day?  How can you bond? We spend an entire week away together bonding as a team, planning and organising and we make HUGE progress

Home Country versus abroad.  Most companies go to the local city and hire a room for everyone and do presentations all day.  Leaving the country together, travelling to a new area and experiencing new things has an incredibly positive effect on us all

Presentations versus working together.  Now don't get me wrong PopUp Business School and especially me LOVE a good PowerPoint but most companies get it all wrong and just talk at their teams!  We spend a week working together on our biggest challenges, planning and organising. 

The economics of geo-arbitrage

Is coming to Poland actually better financially for the company?
The United Kingdom
  • Travel: £47 to get the train to London from Basingstoke and more for other team members
  • ​Team meal in London.  Minimum £20 a person a night and it could be more
  • Hotel in the UK.  The UK is becoming increasingly expensive and finding cheap accommodation is difficult.  Minimum £75 a night and can be £100 plus. 
  • Meeting room hire.  £250 a day at the least! Ridiculous! Doesn't even include coffee!
Poland
  • Travel: £29 to get a flight to G'Dansk from Stanstead London
  • ​Team meal last night in Poland £9 a person for drinks, food and everything!
  • We are staying in a city centre hotel in the Old Town in G'Dansk.  It is newly refurbished and awesome! The total is £42 a night per person. 
  • Room hire is £100 including tea, coffee and unlimited biscuits! #dangerous
Old Town G'Dansk
Old Town G'Dansk where we stayed for the 2019 PopUp Business School Retreat
When you add all this up it is substantially cheaper and COOLER to come to Poland!  We get looked after better here, the food is better, the whole experience is better.  

£100 a night minimum saving on food, £250 a night minimum saving on the hotel, £150 on the room hire!  We will have saved £3500 + by coming to Poland rather than staying in the UK! 

So when you are next planning your team meetings for your business or you are planning a weekend away with your friends maybe you should think about getting out of the USA, or getting out of the UK and exploring the world whilst saving money!

Geo-arbitrage is an AMAZING business tool when used right!  Get out and see the world!  

Where will you go for your next weekend away?  Where will you go for your next team meeting?  I would love to know how you have saved money by getting out or where you plan to go!

​Thanks for reading.  Alan
Comments
read more

Alan donegan

Home | About | Start Here | Podcast | FIRE | Contact | Podcast Season 1 | Podcast Season 2 | Stats & Feedback | Take Control of your Finances
Picture
Website Design by Developer Rocket
I built this website to share the life lessons I learn along the way, the cool stories, the adventures, the amazing people and everything I learn from all the stupid mistakes I make!  If you want to keep up to date then stick your email in below.  I promise to never share your email address or spam you!  Alan

SIGN UP FOR BLOG UPDATES AND TO FOLLOW ALAN ON HIS JOURNEY

Latest Blog's

Just start!  Get going! Investor Series

Vanguard Developed World versus Global index fund.  Investor Series​

The impact of fees on investments. Investor Series

* indicates required
Photos used under Creative Commons from Tone'o, bryan...