Become a Home Based Travel Agent

Blow Your Horn
By: Jan Shaughnessy

Do you ever feel like you’ve been in school your whole life?  After all, isn’t that what life is all about; learning, learning, learning.  First it was K – 12^th grade. (We didn’t do pre-school in my day).  Then it was off to college whether I really wanted to or not. It was the thing to do.  That lasted about a year and I left college to work in a factory that made robes and nightgowns.  More learning there with on-the-job training.  In a few years I was off to join the US Air Force.  That started 20 years of a non-stop learning frenzy, so it seemed.  First, six weeks of basic training, then months of technical training for your specialty.  Then after your technical training you arrived at your first permanent duty assignment and started on-the-job training.  The longer I stayed in the Air Force the more I had to learn different levels of my specialty.  First there was the 3-level, then the 5-level.  Along with the increased level came a requirement for higher management skills. That meant six weeks of Leadership School.  In between all this I studied for promotion, which with promotion came more responsibility.  So then it was the 7-level, and a higher level of management school called the NCO Academy.  

The Air Force has its own college, The Community College of the Air Force.  My skill levels and management training were worth credits to earn an Associates degree in my Air Force specialty.  I only had to take some extra college courses to add to the Air Force training.  So I earned my Associate degree in Telecommunications.  Also offered on Air Force bases are college classes with branch offices of major universities, like University of Maryland, Golden Gate University and others.  I must not have been busy enough studying for my skill levels, the management classes, studying for promotion and earning the Associates degree.  Because I went on to earn an Associates in Liberal Arts, a Bachelor’s in Management, and a Master’s in Business Management.  

It was at my 11^th year of my Air Force Career that I switched specialties and became an Air Force Recruiter.  That required six weeks of intense sales training.  The Air Force Recruiting School was known as the third top sales training school in the nation.  They used the Dale Carnegie method of sales. It was that sales training that I took with me when I retired from the Air Force and entered the travel industry in 1998.  There I was, all happy, retired from the Air Force and working in travel.  No more having to study for promotions, skill levels, or management classes, right?  Wrong!  It was starting all over again.  First I earned my ACC, then my MCC, Shamrock Ireland Specialist, and Disney College of Knowledge.  In addition there’s local seminars, trade shows, conferences, and the plethora of supplier specialty courses.  They all have the same message of an end result of sales, sales, and more sales. 

So how is all this related to the title of my article?  Am I just blowing my own horn?  No, that’s not it.  The truth is, haven’t we been learning about sales since we were toddlers?  Little Boy Blue taught us to get out there and blow your horn.  Little Bo Peep lost all her sheep (clients).  Was it because like Miss Muffett, she sat on her tuffett?  There’s times when we may get tired of all the seminars, webinars, conferences, and the barrage of supplier on line courses. But with diligence our end reward could be like the Old Woman in the shoe, with so many clients you won’t know what to do!  Then like Mary Mary you can watch your agency grow.  Now that’s a good reason to toot your horn!