Become a Home Based Travel Agent

As an owner of your home-based business you know all to well the many joys you experience being in control of your own destiny and doing it all from the comfort of your home. That being said, there are also some unexpected twists and turns on the course to success. Learning how to maneuver those bends in the road and to remain focused on your direction is mandatory to the success of your travel business.

As many of your know, Tom and I have been working from home for over 13 years and I think we can safely say we have hit our stride and are able to deal with the distractions that are simply part and parcel of the home-based world. However, we still find ourselves needing to re-work our plan and stay focused to achieve the results we hope for. There are literally hundreds of distractions that lay before the home-based travel agent or any other home-based business person for that matter. To name just a few we have, family, friends, neighbors, pets, household duties, television, yard work, social media (yes even that can be a distraction if not used properly) and so much more.

Ask yourself why you decided to have a home-based travel agency? Why didn’t you want to work in a storefront agency, a reservations center, or somewhere outside of your home? Perhaps your primary motivation was to share in the lives of your children. Maybe you have elderly parents or in-laws that needed your assistance. Perhaps you were just tired of traffic and all that goes with that challenge. Maybe you thought it would be easy. I suspect those of you reading this article are now laughing at the “easy” part. Certainly, the work environment from home can be wonderful, but easy or without it’s own set of challenges, not a chance.

Every once in a while I have to remind myself to re-work my plan and re-focus. I too get distracted and then I am frustrated with myself for allowing things to impose on my work time. I am the only one to blame if I do not accomplish my goals. The distractions are something I must manage. Here are some tips that work for me and hopefully they will help you too!

No matter what the reason for this is, you must keep it at the forefront of your mind. If you waver from that focus you will likely get frustrated. Do not let circumstances control your activities. When we allow them to take over the wheel of our car we tend to lose our direction.

When you work for yourself running your home-based travel business your income is directly proportional to your productivity. If you are doing this as a hobby, you cannot expect to be profitable. Hobbies are for playtime and this is work-time. Take it seriously and you will be rewarded for your energy and focus.

You may not want to put up a physical “Do Not Disturb” sign on your office door but then perhaps it may not be such a bad idea. Dealing with family in the course of what is supposed to be your work time is something only you can control. They need to understand the importance of your work and respect your need to focus on your travel business. If you are new to working at home, you may find this takes some time to accomplish. Stay the course and let your family, friends and other know that you have a business to run. Perhaps enlist them to help you. Being involved in the success of your business both financially and emotionally will reward them.

Of course you will say no to that question. Think about it for a minute though. I am not suggesting that technology is anything but terrific for our business. What I am saying is that sometimes it has a tendency to run the day. I speak for myself when I say that I can spend hours upon hours reading, responding and communicating online to people without really being productive. Thanks, I feel better now that I have admitted it to all of you. Writing articles is therapeutic for me.

I have to step back sometimes and look at my day with a focus on what I expect to accomplish by day’s end. That may not included spending time on Facebook, (which I love), or reading all the trades online, or spending hours doing emails. It may mean that I have to shut down the email account and focus on a project in total concentration. Try spending a day or at least half of a day without watching for incoming email and see if you notice a difference in your productivity. If nothing else, it is a fun exercise to go “cold turkey” without email for a few hours to see if we can still survive.

Ultimately, the success of your home-based travel business comes down to you and the decisions you make. You made a great decision to work from home and keep reminding yourself why you did it. Focusing on the successful path that lies ahead of you can make the road an exciting and profitable highway to follow.

Joanie Ogg CTC MCC
Joanie Ogg Marketing Group
Editor

Joanie Ogg is a thirty-five year veteran of the travel industry and has been involved with the independent contractor evolution since 1988. She is the principal of Joanie Ogg Marketing Group, which specializes in consulting and speaking on the topic of Home-Based Travel. She also provides marketing and sales for wide variety of products under the umbrella HomeBasedTravelAgent.com.

A demonstrated industry leader, Joanie most recently served as the President of the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA) and TravelSellers. She and her husband Tom acquired NACTA in 1996 and sold it to The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) in 2000. Joanie’s tenure in the travel industry includes owning and operating one of the first successful host agency models. She has owned and operated several storefront travel agencies (both commercial and leisure), as well as a Hawaii wholesale tour company.

Her decades of success have garnered her numerous accolades over the years. Her accomplishments have been recognized by receipt of two Lifetime Achievement Awards from major trade groups, being named as one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in Travel” by Travel Agent magazine on several occasions, voted as “Travel Agent of the Year” by the readers of Travel Trade magazine, and has been recognized by many other industry organizations throughout her tenure in the industry. In 2008 Joanie Ogg was inducted into the CLIA Hall of Fame, an honor held by some of the most influential executives in the travel industry.

Joanie is a Master Cruise Counselor (MCC) and a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC). Joanie has co-authored two popular travel industry books for cruise specialists and home-based travel agents and has authored hundreds of travel trade articles. She has inspired tens of thousands of travel agents attending her presentations at trade events, cruise seminars, international trade gatherings and numerous local educational venues throughout the United States. With a time-honored background and forward-looking vision, she is often featured as a speaker at many of the travel industry’s major conferences and events. Joanie’s speaking talents are widely sought as a travel industry emcee by the most recognized travel organizations. She has emceed such events as Cruise-A-Thons, ASTA’s CruiseFest, The Trade Show, The Travel Institute Forum and all of NACTA’s National and International Conferences.


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