How to Grow Your Travel Business Through Decisive Action –  Episode 44

Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

If you’re wondering how to grow your travel business but feel stuck in a cycle of learning, planning, and overthinking, stick with me 🙂

After over a decade as a travel advisor and countless conversations with travel pros at every stage, I’ve identified the real culprit holding most of us back, and it’s not lack of knowledge or resources.

It’s inaction, or worse, taking the wrong actions altogether.

The travel advisors who break through aren’t necessarily the ones with the most training or the biggest budgets.

They’re the ones who make decisions, take deliberate action, and keep moving forward even when they’re not 100% certain.

I’m sharing what I’ve learned about the difference between being a travel advisor and being a travel entrepreneur, and how shifting your mindset from worker to decision-maker can completely transform your travel agency business.

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How to Grow Your Travel Business: Understanding the Real Problem

I’ve had conversations with travel pros at all different levels of their travel business, and there’s one common thread I keep seeing; either not taking action at all, or focusing on the wrong sorts of things.

If you’re selling travel, you’re obviously taking some actions.

But I think a lot of us get disillusioned thinking we can’t do certain things, and you absolutely can.

I mean, you started a full-fledged travel business.

If you did that, you can really do anything you set your mind to.

The thing is, there’s a big disconnect between starting a travel business and running one.

It’s two very different things to be a travel advisor and to be a travel entrepreneur.

Let me explain what I mean by pulling from my corporate days.

When I was a scheduler or a restaurant supervisor, I wasn’t the owner.

There were certain things I had to do to make sure everything ran smoothly.

Food safety, human resources, staffing, maintaining resources, keeping everything clean, offering amazing guest service.

That was the job of being a supervisor.

But if we’re thinking about being the business owner of that restaurant, you have to start thinking strategically. You’re looking at numbers, justifying the things you do to make sure there are certain outcomes. Because you can’t just keep doing certain things if they’re not providing the results you’re wanting from those actions.

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The Big Difference Between Advisors and Entrepreneurs

I’ll never forget when a work mentor mentioned that the difference between a leader and an employee is the ability to make a decision.

I know that sounds basic, but it’s the simplest things that we do or don’t do in this business that either move us forward or hold us way back. 

Are you going to buy the white plates or the red plates?

Make the decision.

Who cares if it’s the wrong decision?

If you were supposed to buy white plates instead of red plates, well, you’ve learned that and you’re going to improve for the next time you go out and purchase plates.

I think we all get hung up on what if I do it wrong?

Or what if I’m not doing this right?

Let me get a little meta with you.

At the end of 2019, I realized I’d been doing the same things over and over and not growing.

I made a decision right then that I was going to challenge myself in 2020 to start networking.

That decision and commitment literally changed everything when it came to my business trajectory.

And it wasn’t because networking was some magical solution.

It was because I made a decision and followed through with the action.

Understanding Your Unique Travel Business Needs

Everybody is unique.

Every business is unique.

And every business has unique needs.

We all get stuck in the comparison game, but you can’t compare someone who inherited a family business and is working full time with their spouse’s income supporting them versus someone who built their business from the ground up without that support.

Those are two completely different needs.

The fuel and passion might be similar, but the needs are different.

Maybe you just want part time income.

Maybe you want retirement income.

Maybe you need this to support yourself and your lifestyle.

But what does that lifestyle include?

Do you want to be taking vacations every month?

Do you want to be planning extravagant weddings for your clients?

Same thing with the person who’s retired and wants a little extra income to pay for fun travels but doesn’t want to put in that much effort because they’re retired.

Or maybe you want this as your full time income but you don’t want to work full time because you have a family, or you’re dealing with chronic fatigue, or you just want to live a life of freedom and not be wrapped up in all the hullabaloo.

Your business strategy for travel agency success has to fit your life, not some template you found online.

The Mindset Shift That Changes Everything

A few years ago, I attended an event that completely changed how I viewed owning a travel agency.

It showed me all the business owner aspects of owning and operating a business, not just being a travel advisor.

I feel like I knew this intellectually, but I didn’t really KNOW it.

It was a complete mindset switch, and that’s what I hope to share with my fellow travel entrepreneurs in the work I do now.

What I’m seeing in conversations with travel advisors really boils down to three things:

• Confidence issues
• Mindset blocks
• Inaction or stalling on actions

And we do a lot of things that we think are taking actions.

Technically they are, but they’re not the right actions we need to move our travel businesses forward.

Taking the Right Actions for Your Stage

There are different phases in a travel business, and everybody is at a different phase.

There are different things that need to be done at different phases.

When you’re just starting out, your focus might be on building your online presence and getting your first few customers.

You’re establishing which travel agency services you want to offer and figuring out your booking process.

When you’re in growth mode, you’re thinking about how to market your services more effectively, how to improve your business systems, and how to scale what’s already working.

When you’re scaling, you’re focused on management of travel agency operations, bringing on team members, and creating processes that don’t require you to be involved in every single booking.

The actions you need to take in each phase are completely different, but what doesn’t change is this.

You need to be taking deliberate action consistently.

The Power of Accountability and Action

This year I’ve worked with travel advisors in a coaching capacity.

Some got a slow start because, well, life happens.

But there’s one in particular who, every time we meet now, has news to report on the actions and decisions she’s taking.

She’s not necessarily doing anything groundbreaking.

She’s just making decisions and taking consistent action.

And you know what?

She’s gaining more confidence.

That’s what makes the difference in how to run a successful travel agency. It’s not about having all the answers before you start. It’s about starting, learning, adjusting, and keeping momentum.

I’ve seen travel advisors spend months perfecting their social media strategy before ever posting. I’ve watched people research the perfect email platform for six weeks.

I’ve talked to advisors who’ve rewritten their business plan four times without implementing a single thing from it.

None of that is moving your business forward.

Those are all forms of productive procrastination, and this is what I mean by taking the wrong actions in your business. 

It’s like you want to put a temporary band aid on to say you’ve been productive, and then you get frustrated because nothing changes.

What Deliberate Action Actually Looks Like

So what should you actually be doing?

Let me break down the kinds of actions that move the needle in your travel business:

Building Your Online Presence

This is about showing up consistently where your customers are.

That means regular travel agent posts on social media, engaging with your audience, and sharing the experiences and knowledge that make you valuable.

Not perfect content.

Consistent content.

Focusing on Your Booking Process

How easy is it for travelers to actually book with you?

I’m not talking about the backend systems.

I’m speaking from your client’s perspective.

Can they find you?

Do they know how to reach you?

Is your process clear?

These are action items you can tackle today.

Leveraging Online Reviews

Are you asking satisfied clients for reviews?

Are you making it easy for them to leave feedback?

Online reviews are one of the most powerful marketing tools for any travel agency, but only if you’re actively building them.

Strategic Marketing Efforts

When you’re thinking about how to promote your travel business, are you trying ten different things half heartedly, or are you committing to one or two channels and doing them really well?

There’s a difference between taking action and throwing spaghetti at the wall.

Revenue-Generating Activities

This is the big one.

Are you spending your time on activities that actually generate revenue, or are you spending it on things that feel productive but don’t grow your business?

Anyone can be busy, but not everyone is out there making money.

Common Travel Agent Sales Tips That Actually Work

Know Your Numbers

You need to understand your revenue, where it’s coming from, and what actions lead to bookings.

You can’t improve what you don’t measure.

Follow Up Consistently

Most sales in the travel industry happen after multiple touchpoints.

If you’re not following up, you’re leaving money on the table.

Create Systems for Everything

From how you handle inquiries to how you research trips to how you communicate with clients during their travels.

Systems free up your brain space for strategic thinking.

Invest in Relationships, Not Just Transactions

The travel advisors who build sustainable businesses are the ones who create real connections with their clients and their industry peers.

This goes back to that decision I made about networking.

It changed everything because it opened doors I didn’t even know existed.

Why You Need Community and Collaboration

Many of us work in this travel business alone.

You don’t have that office environment where you can celebrate wins or troubleshoot challenges with colleagues.

You’re celebrating your victories by yourself.

But what if you had a community you could celebrate with? What if you had other travel entrepreneurs who understood exactly what you’re going through and could hold you accountable to the actions you need to take?

When I think back to my days working in an office, having that environment to bounce ideas off my co-workers and celebrate wins together was so incredibly valuable.

That collaborative energy is something we’re missing in our independent travel businesses, and it’s something we need to actively create.

Speaking of create, if you’re running a business and you’re not having fun, really, what is the point?

I know, obviously generating revenue and making money matters.

But I don’t believe in making money and not having fun doing it and changing lives while you’re at it.

This is your business.

You get to decide what it looks like.

You get to decide what actions you take, and what success means to you.

The Analysis That Nobody Talks About

There’s so much analysis in business that we don’t talk about as business owners, too.

When something doesn’t work, that’s not a failure, necessarily. That’s data. That’s a really great place to analyze what happened that month, what held you back from accomplishing certain things, so you can troubleshoot for the next month.

This is how you improve your business over time.

Not by being perfect from day one, but by consistently taking action, analyzing what’s working, and adjusting your approach.

Every decision you make teaches you something, even the wrong ones.

Especially the wrong ones, actually.

We’re in an industry that’s been through a lot in recent years.

We’ve had our faults, but we’re moving forward.

There are so many new amazing possibilities ahead if we work together, have fun together, and do something different together.

The travel advisors who are going to thrive aren’t the ones waiting for perfect conditions or perfect knowledge.

They’re the ones making decisions, taking action, and adjusting course as they go.

You started a travel business, which means you already have what it takes.

Now it’s about channeling that energy into deliberate, consistent action that moves you closer to your goals.

Stop waiting for the perfect time, waiting until you know everything (I know you’re doing this, lol), or waiting until you feel ready 🙂

Decide on the choice, take the steps to make it come to life, learn from it, adjust, and repeat.

That’s how you grow a travel business that supports the life you actually want to live.

The question isn’t whether you can do this.

You absolutely can.

The question is- what step are you going to make today to move forward?

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