Become a Home Based Travel Agent

Is your attitude of gratitude half full or half empty?
By: Cory Andrichuk

For many travel professionals, it's easy to get caught up in the misery of the economy and how it has been affecting the travel industry.  You can dwell on the doom and gloom and cry about what you don't have or ... adopt the opposite attitude and be grateful for what you do have.

Successful entrepreneurs understand that their attitudes contribute to their business success.  One of these attitudes is gratitude.  Ask yourself how you practice gratitude?  Do you even practice it all?  You have 86,400 seconds a day.  Have you used one to say thank you today?

If you keep doing what you've been doing, you will get the same outcome. If you want a different outcome, then re-work your mindset, and start thinking with a new attitude...an Attitude of Gratitude.  

Here are 4 ways to help change your thinking right away:

1.       Focus on what you have
It is key to focus on what is working in your life.  Focus on the money in the bank you do have.  Focus on the clients you currently have.  Focus on the product knowledge you have acquired.  Be thankful for the friends and family that you have today! Take a moment and think about the people in your life who need to be cherished, appreciated and told that their support has been helpful.  Be thankful for your supplier relations in place as those purpose-based partnerships are key to your success.  Call your favourite BDM today and take them for a coffee and tell them how much you appreciate their hard work on your behalf.
 
2.      Visualize
Use the images in your mind to replay and create a movie of the people you love and care about that make you feel good.  Create images and movies in your mind about the perfect group you will escort to the Caribbean this winter, in balconies nonetheless!  Create perfect images of the perfect romantic vacation you will take this winter to that secluded island getaway with your significant other!  Visualize yourself writing a business plan and exceeding the sales forecasts because you focused on your niche, your sales strategy and your brand image.  Being thoughtful and strategic is step number one as you work towards greatness.  Clarity precedes success.  By thinking and visualizing more, you will have a better sense of your priorities and what you need to focus on today to better plan for tomorrow.
 
3.       Reward yourself
It helps to start with you... a novel concept wouldn't you say?  I believe that by rewarding yourself, you are thanking yourself and you will be in a better position to reward and thank others.  By taking the time for yourself, on a daily basis, you free up more quality time for others.   Take a walk, treat yourself to a specialty coffee, go to the spa, or connect with a friend.  And for the biggest reward:  Take that vacation sooner than later because it is not only great value these days, but because you are worth it.  It also makes sense for your business because you gain critical product knowledge to promote and share with your clients.  Become a travel leader within your own database and set an example to your own clientele that taking the time off on a vacation makes great sense in so many ways.
 
4.      Do what you love
If you have heard this one before and still shake your head in disagreement - you're probably not truly doing what you love!  If you do what you love and love what you do then you will always feel grateful.  Follow your heart and do what you want to do… as the real risk lies in riskless living.  Mark Twain made the point perfectly when he observed:  “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.”  So go ahead and stretch today.  Start learning more about that new niche product today.  Specialize because you love working with a specific product more than others.  And remember, it starts with an attitude of gratitude!