Sharing My Business Journey as a Travel Entrepreneur – Episode 45

Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

If you’ve been listening to the Strategic Travel Entrepreneur Podcast since I launched it in March 2021, thank you 🙂

I realized something recently.

I’ve never really shared the full story of my business journey and how I ended up here, supporting travel advisors like you.

So let’s fix that.

I’m Rita M. Perez, and I’ve spent over a decade in this travel industry.

I started my travel business back in October 2010, specializing in retreats on cruise ships for corporate executives and business owners.

My path to becoming a travel entrepreneur didn’t start with travel at all. It started with Mickey Mouse, and a dance party in a parking lot in Tunisia that changed everything.

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How My Business Journey Started with a Wedding in Tunisia

Picture this, Summer 2010!

I was finishing up my master’s degree when my friend Mandee invited me to her wedding.

Not just any wedding, but an international wedding in Tunisia.

She was marrying her now hubby Aymen, a guy she met here in the States, and decided she wasn’t going to do the traditional American wedding.

She wanted something overseas and different.

That trip was life-changing in ways I couldn’t ever have expected.

The bonds that formed between all of us, the way Mandee and Aymen’s families connected, was something incredibly special.

The life altering moment for me happened the night before the wedding.

We went to check out the venue, and when we walked back to the parking lot, someone turned on the car radio.

Instead of getting in and driving home, we had this spontaneous dance party right there in the parking lot under the Tunisian night sky.

It was joyful, euphoric, and something in me clicked.

People need to experience this kind of amazingness…that’s what I kept thinking.

So when I got back to the States and officially launched my travel business that October, I started with girlfriend getaways because I wanted to recreate those amazing experiences for other people.versus what you hope to make.

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From Hospitality Management to Theme Parks

But first, some context.

I have a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management where I specialized in event management.

I quickly realized, going through my program, that event management meant giving up my weekends.

Destination weddings, corporate events, they all happen when people are available, which is usually Saturday and Sunday.

I didn’t want to give up my weekends, so I pivoted to food and beverage thinking there would be more work-life balance.

Spoiler alert: I gave up my weekends anyway 🙂

I spent around 15 or 16 years in the theme park industry, and my very first job was as a housekeeper at Walt Disney World.

If you’re a big Disney fan, you might know we were called “mousekeepers.”

I cleaned 18 rooms every shift, which is a LOT.

I was part of a special program where I did a few months in housekeeping, then rotated to front desk and luggage assistance.

From there, I took seasonal roles so I could finish my bachelor’s degree.

That’s when I got into food and beverage, which became my home for many years to come.

My first food and beverage job was at Garden Grill in Epcot, at The Land pavilion.

If you’re an Epcot fan, you know this is the one that rotates, and has a character experience. It was actually my dream spot because I LOVED that restaurant growing up.

Working there felt full circle.

Building My Foundation Through Disney and Beyond

From Garden Grill, I went into a management internship program.

I worked at Port Orleans French Quarter, handling the quick service restaurant, two pool bars, and pizza delivery.

Then I moved to Magic Kingdom, first at Cosmic Ray’s in Tomorrowland, and then finally landing at my MK home of Pecos Bill in Frontierland.

I also worked at different resorts, including all the restaurants at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge and Kidani Village.

One of the absolute highlights of my career was working the International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot one year. That experience taught me so much about operations at scale, customer service under pressure, and creating memorable experiences even in chaos.

After Disney, I moved to the SeaWorld Parks.

I worked at Discovery Cove first, then Aquatica, and finally the main SeaWorld park.

And this is where I really started developing the skills that would later define my approach to supporting travel entrepreneurs.

Becoming the Fixer

Toward the end of my theme park career, I became what people called “the fixer.”

Think Olivia Pope, but for restaurants and food service operations.

If a restaurant needed help, if we were opening a new venue, if there was a mess that needed cleaning up, they brought me in.

Chaos irks me.

If there’s a way to find a better solution, I’m all for it.

My time at Disney set me up for success in this role because they have systems for everything.

But when I got to Discovery Cove, I was shocked at the lack of formal training and organization.

One of the first things I did as a supervisor was create closing checklists. Every team member on my front-of-house team had to complete specific tasks before they could clock out for the day. Before I instituted those checklists, closing the restaurant was a disaster. People would just disappear. Tasks wouldn’t get done or would be half-finished. It needed to end for two reasons: one, I needed some sanity, and two, the opening team deserved to start their day with success, not in a mess.

When I eventually left that restaurant, they were still using those checklists.

That’s when I realized my strength wasn’t just in doing the work.

It was in creating systems, training, and strategy that made everyone’s job easier and more effective.

The Shift to Supporting the Travel Industry

I became a full-time entrepreneur in May 2021.

It was always my goal to work for myself and be a full-time travel entrepreneur.

But like a lot of you, the pandemic made me realize what I actually wanted out of life.

I’d been unhappy in my theme park career for a while, feeling like I wasn’t making progress no matter what I addressed.

The pandemic made everything worse, and I couldn’t live like that anymore, so I started working more fiercely toward my exit plan.

What I realized during this time was that I felt called to a higher purpose.

I wasn’t finding meaning in the work I was doing at the theme parks anymore, even though it shaped so much of who I am today.

I wanted to help people and I wanted to live life on my own terms.

I’d been feeling deeply called to support the travel industry, particularly travel advisors.

I see so many amazing people filling gaps with education, and I thought I should be a voice bringing different resources not only from within our industry, but from outside too. 

Why the Travel Business Is Different

We’re a mix of being a product business and a service-based business. We can’t just promote based on the product, and we can’t just promote based on our services. Finding that balance is tricky, and I see a lot of travel advisors struggling with it.

A lot of guidance in our industry comes from online business coaches, and while there’s overlap, our business model is unique.

One of my favorite phrases is: take what you need and leave what you don’t.

Every business owner and every business is different.

There’s no umbrella formula that works for everyone.

The Difference Between Being a Travel Advisor and Travel Entrepreneur

When I talk about being a travel advisor versus a travel entrepreneur, I’m talking about mindset and approach.

A travel advisor is focused on the day-to-day: booking trips, providing customer service, researching destinations, and building client relationships.

Those are all necessary skills and work to complete that job.

But a travel entrepreneur is also thinking about the business strategy.

They’re looking at their business model, marketing, content strategy, and sales process.

They’re thinking about growth, systems, and sustainability.

They’re the CEO of their organization.

And you need to be both. You need to be great at the travel advisor part, but if you want to build something that gives you freedom and grows over time, you also need to think like an entrepreneur.

Not everyone has the same goal, either.

A lot of programs assume everybody wants to be a full-time travel entrepreneur.

But what does full time even mean to you?

Does it mean working 60 hours a week?

40 hours a week?

Maybe 25 hours a week?

The definition of success in your travel agency is personal.

It’s about what makes sense for your life, business model, business plan, and values.

How I’m Supporting Travel Entrepreneurs Today

I do this support work through a couple of different methods.

You’re experiencing one right now by reading this blog post or listening to the Strategic Travel Entrepreneur Podcast.

You’ll not only hear from me, but also experts in their fields discussing what’s worked for them and the businesses they’ve helped along the way.

I also ran something called Prep for Wave Week back in November 2021, which still continues to this day.

It’s a series of webinars with amazing experts in and out of the travel industry, designed to set you up for success in the new year. 

When I look at what’s being taught in the travel industry, I see a lot of focus on what I call “the sexy marketing stuff.”

But not the things that actually provide you with results.

That’s been a real eye-opener for me.

We’ve gotten away from looking at the different little actions that add up to a successful travel business because we’re so focused on shiny objects.

But there are certain basic things that need to happen consistently, sometimes every month, so we can be effective and strategic in our businesses.

That’s why I created a program that’s evolved throughout the years, now currently known as Marketing Business School, which is centered all around taking action in your business.

What Got Me Here: Business Lessons from My Journey

Looking back at my business journey, several key lessons stand out:

Systems create freedom

Those closing checklists I created at Discovery Cove?

That’s what I’m bringing to travel entrepreneurs now.

When you have systems in place, you’re not reinventing the wheel every day.

Strategy beats hustle

My last role in the theme parks was in labor analysis, handling scheduling, workloads, and budgeting.

That strategic thinking taught me that working harder isn’t always the answer.

Working smarter is.

Community matters

That dance party in Tunisia taught me that shared experiences create bonds that last.

That’s what I’m building with the Strategic Travel Entrepreneur community on Facebook and through my programs.

Your unique path is valid

I went from cleaning hotel rooms to running a travel business and supporting other entrepreneurs.

There’s no single path to success.

Your journey is your own.

Don’t wait for permission

When I saw gaps in education and support for travel advisors, I didn’t wait for someone else to fill them. I started the podcast.

I created resources.

I launched programs.

You don’t need permission to start your journey toward the business you want.

Sharing my business journey with you feels vulnerable, but also necessary.

You deserve to know who’s creating the resources you’re using and learning from.

You deserve to understand the experiences that shaped my approach to supporting travel entrepreneurs.

I’m not here to sell you a one-size-fits-all formula or promise overnight success.

I’m here to share what I’ve learned, to bring in expert voices, to create tools and resources that actually help, and to build a community where we can all grow together.

This industry is unique and challenging and absolutely worth the effort.

Every day I get to help travel advisors create those transformative experiences for their clients, the kind of experience I had in that parking lot in Tunisia all those years ago.

That’s what this is all about.

Creating joy, building businesses that matter, and supporting each other along the way.

Thank you for being here, listening, reading, and for being part of this community.

I’m excited to see where we all go from here.

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