As small business owners – especially micro-business owners who often work alone – we sometimes get discouraged and even feel like giving up. We loose sight of our dreams, why we started our business in the first place and the hope of success.
If this is you, I’d like to offer you some encouragement. I want to remind you of why you started in the first place and assure you that it IS possible for you to become a wildly successful full-time travel agent.
One of the biggest myths that travel agents are up again is that people no longer work with travel agents, that they are a thing of the past – this is just not true! Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, almost 30% of travelers used a travel agent, and post-pandemic, that number has continued to rise! A survey of people who rarely or never used a travel agent before the pandemic, showed that 44% were likely to use one post-pandemic.
There are MORE than enough clients out there for you, your job is to find them and show them why they should choose you – because, of course they should. 😊
Now that we’ve established that there are plenty of clients out there for you to make travel your full-time job, let’s talk about how the concrete steps you need to take to get those clients so you can quit your day job.
3 Steps to Freedom as a Full-Time Travel Agent
1. Growth
Increase the amount of revenue you bring in.
2. Optimization
Increase your monthly profit (the amount of money you keep).
3. Automation
Decrease the amount of time you spend working and the stress that comes with inefficient, ineffective processes.
Before you get started on any of these steps, you need to know your minimum monthly income – the absolute minimum you need to make in order to go full-time as a travel agent.
No one can give you this number, it all depends on your personal budget needs – you need to know your personal and business budget numbers to determine this.
So, once you determine your minimum monthly income, how do you get the point of earning the income you need to become a full-time travel agent?
The Full-Time Travel Agent Secret Formula
Don’t you just love a good secret formula? 😉
Business success can feel mysterious and elusive, but the truth is, there is always a formula for success in every business, and you’re in luck because I’m going to give you the Full-Time Travel Agent Secret Formula right now.
Niche/Specialty/Ideal Client + Lead Sources = Minimum Monthly Income
Looks pretty simple, doesn’t it? And really, it is pretty simple once you figure out what all this looks like for you and your business and then get your marketing machine up and running. Building a successful business takes a lot of hard work, but it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Niche/Specialty
You need to get ultra-clear about your niche and how you can best serve your ideal client, ask yourself:
What do you do better than anyone else?
What are you an expert in?
How will you help your ideal client?
These are just a few questions to get you started defining your niche. We walk you through the whole process with our free Niche & Ideal Client Discovery Guide, which you can download for free here.
Ideal Client
Define as much about your ideal client as you possibly can – who are they? what do they do? what does their family look like? what do they most care about? – every little detail you can define so that you know exactly who you are speaking to with your marketing.
For more help defining your Ideal Client Avatar, download your free Discovery guide here.
Lead Sources
A lead source is simply what brings a lead, a prospective client, to you. Lead sources can be your website, social media, JV partnerships – anything that you use to attract clients to you.
Ideally, you want to find your best 3-5 lead sources and focus on optimizing them. There are LOTS of possible lead sources, we outlined 14 lead source for you here to get you started on choosing your best 3-5.
Can you go from being a part-time travel agent to being a full-time travel agent in 60 days? We’ve helped other travel agents just like you do it, so we know it’s possible!
Download our free guides mentioned above to get started, and if you’d like even more help, my team and I are here to help you in the Travel Expert Marketing Academy.
As part of the Travel Expert Marketing Academy you’ll get the resources and support you need to make your full-time travel agent dream a reality. To discover how we can help you click here now.
We’d love to hear from you! If you are already a successful full-time travel agent, or just have any other great tips to add to this secret formula, let us know in the comments below.
