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Become a Home Based
10
COMMANDMENTS FOR Working from home has its advantages including setting your own hours, choosing your clients, and most important being your own boss. However, working from home can create other problems including self-motivation and constantly explaining to family and friends that your job is legitimate. Did you know that when Moses came down from the Mount with the Ten Commandments that he had another set stuck in his back pocket? This other set of commandments was designed to guide travel agents in the twenty-first century who choose to work from home. Here is what the “other” set of commandments declared:
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Thou shall possess a Professional Attitude
If you’ve started a home-based travel agency, you are the boss. It is your sole responsibility to promote yourself and your business. Before you walk out the door or pick up the business line, ask yourself if your “professional image” is in place. Experts say you have eleven seconds to make an impression whether in person or on the phone; so ensuring you is projecting a professional attitude is essential. What we wear, how we look, and what we say are all vital aspects of a professional attitude
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Thou shall have a Designated Office in the Home
Working on the kitchen counter or dining room table just does not work. You have a business and like any other business; you need a set area that is exclusively for your business. In your office you will want to have a computer and printer that is used only for the business. You should have a phone line, cell phone and Internet service dedicated for your business. Decorate the office with travel posters and start collages of pictures of your clients enjoying the vacation you booked.
Once your office is established, set your business hours. Let your family, friends and clients know when the office is open. When you set your hours, make sure you work your hours around your family and outside commitments. Working from home, you do not have to keep 9-5 hours.
HOS is a common ailment of people who work at home. Experts call it “Home Office Syndrome” and the symptoms are:
1. Walking around wondering what you were doing before you got distracted.
2. Procrastinating for any reason.
3. Working in “untidy” conditions.
4. Answering the phone or client e-mails at all hours.
There is a cure, although painless, it does take time to be effective:
when when you are done for the day, close your office door and spend quality time with the family.
Do you, as a home-based travel agent, need to have a website? Should you design your own website? Should you use a database and accounting system for your agency? What about research – should you use online sites or industry books? No matter what you feel your agency needs, don’t re-invent the wheel – Don’t waste your time trying to create your own programs – there are great programs and Internet sites available that will do the job for you.
Every business needs goals both long range and short range and these goals should be reasonable and attainable. When setting goals, make the precise and give them a time frame and an amount so they can be measured. This is the only way you know if your goal is achieved. If you have several goals, make sure you set priorities so you are working on the most important first. By writing down your goals in a business plan, you will be able to track your progress and realize your achievements.
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Thou Shall Not Become a Home Office Prisoner
If you are a home-based travel agent, it is true that you work from home but if you stay inside your house waiting for clients to ring your doorbell, your home based business will be short-lived. The main reason suppliers love home-based agents is because they can reach clients that the supplier’s marketing may not reach. Think about your day, and how many people you come in contact with at the post office, pharmacy, grocery store, PTA meeting or the soccer game. Now remember the Three-Foot-Rule - Everyone within three feet of you is a potential client. The beauty of working from home is the flexibility you have to get out and network with people. When you are doing that schedule, be sure to schedule time out of the office networking.
For agents working from home, one of your worst enemies is Clutter. The travel industry sends out a record number of faxes, brochures and e-mail alerts. Finding time to sort through them and then what do you do with them? Many agents call this the Leaning Tower of Travel Publications and most sit in the corner of their office. Don’t’ let them accumulate – when a travel publication arrives, page through to see which articles are of interest to you, tear them out and put them in your tote bag. Then, next time you find yourself sitting in a doctor’s office or waiting for soccer practice to end, open that tote and start reading. If you want to keep the article, put it in a folder when you get home and if you don’t want it – throw it away. How many post-it-notes or pink telephone message sheets have you lost before you got to call the client back? Get yourself a spiral steno pad and start using it for all incoming messages and important information? Be sure you enter the date at the top of each page. This is a permanent record you have to refer back to at any time. Being organized will make your easier.
If you love what you do, it will show. If you take the necessary steps to set up an efficient business from the start, your business will run effortlessly. If you like to talk to people about travel and enjoy networking in your community, promoting your travel business will be easy. Never forget this is a business but have fun watching it grow.
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