Independent Travel Agent - FAQ3 - what do you do everyday?

That’s a very good question and whilst there are things I do or make happen every day in reality no day is the same.  

With my company we have to find our own clients. It’s easier if you have a big family but otherwise you need to consistently get the word out there so that people remember to ask you for a quote when they are looking to book a trip. 

Every morning the first thing I do is check my messages and emails to see if anyone has contacted me for a quote. I reply to them all straight a way - just a quick thank you for your enquiry - if I need additional information I ask for it and once I have everything I need I give them an idea how quickly I will get back to them. I try and do them in date if travel order so if someone wants to travel next week I will do that quote before someone who is travelling in 6 months time.  

I have breakfast and check the newspapers for anything that may be important. Air traffic controller strikes, volcanoes, severe weather etc...and I share those articles on my business page.   

After breakfast I spend an hour on social media...replying to posts and talking to people. I split my time between Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin.

Once that’s done I do my quotes. Sometimes there aren’t many and they get done pretty quickly and some days it takes a lot longer.   

After that my day is my own. Some days I opt for doing some supplier training so I can learn more about a destination or a particular type of trip and get myself another certificate and some days I go out and have a coffee and chat to people. Even if they don’t ask for a quote straight away quite a lot of those people will remember you when they next want to book a trip. Been that nice lady we met in Starbucks goes along way.  

Once a week I spend an hour searching for great deals, and things to get people talking. I schedule all my business posts in one go and try and do 7 or 8 at a time. Then I don’t have to worry about it I know that every day there will be a new post on my business page. You can’t schedule personal posts but I have an alarm set to remind me every morning to post something. As long as I have done the preparation it’s easy. I just pop on and post it. 

Sometimes there will be live supplier training that I want to listen in to but sometimes I will leave it and listen to it at a more convenient time. Mostly the rest of my days I get to do what I like. I have another business I run from home too which takes about ten hours of my week but I rarely work more than 4 hours a day between the two businesses. People I meet through my other business are also potential travel clients.   

There are people who do more and there are people who do less. If I have a big quote I can spend an hour or more ringing hotels and checking things for my clients. But mostly this business fits in around the rest of my life really well.  

It helps that I really enjoy it and although I have travelled there are some unusual destinations becoming popular now and I enjoy reading about new hotels, resorts, the weather and things to see and do in a new destination. That sort of reading doesn’t feel like work although it does help me advise clients and do my job better.   

If you think this is a business you would like to be involved in please message me or email me at dreamdestinationswithsandy@outlook.com