Okay, so a question I often get is "How did you become a travel agent?" I didn't go to school and I definitely didn't pay a travel company 100+ dollars to become part of their pyramid scheme of a business. So here is how I did it.
First, I think it is important to know a little bit of background of where I was in life when I first decided to take the plunge into the travel industry:
I was pregnant working full time at a children's fitness gym. My primary duties included running a Mothers Day Out program, instructing sport classes throughout the week, organizing our summer camps and doing 3- 6 themed birthday parties a weekend. I'm exhausted just reminiscing about it. While I LOVED my job and the people I worked with it was starting to take a toll on me physically, emotionally and mentally. I was going to school part time in the evenings to become a Dental Hygienist for that was my main goal.
One day after work I busted out the phone books to start calling travel agencies in the Dallas area. It is a job that I pictured myself doing since I was a little girl... but I hadn't traveled to too many places and wasn't an expert on geography either so I didn't think anyone would hire me. The job would be perfect for me so I kept on despise the doubts... I had probably called about 50 different agencies when finally one lady said that she would give me an interview to see if I would be a good fit. WOOHOOO!!!
I dressed to the nines for the interview and had the attitude like I had it in the bag. After a couple of nerve racking interviews with both of the owners they decided to hire me on. Now it's important to know that I was taking a HUGE pay cut and there was a lot more involved than I had anticipated but it was something I was passionate about so I was ecstatic to get to work. How big of a pay cut you ask? 7 bucks an hour. Yup, less than my first job at Blockbuster when I was 16 years old!! BUT after a year of hourly pay I would be strictly on commission base pay which was scary but also exciting because I have always been a go-getter.
I went through intense training online, with travel representatives and eventually training in the destinations as well. Even now, I learn something new almost every day. While I love being able to interact with people 8-11 hours a day there are some I have to work with who are just plain RUDE and IGNORANT. Since the customer is always right it's important that I keep my cool and stay professional. This is something that I get better at through the years. At first I would let people get to me too much... blood would boil to the point where I would have to walk outside... or sometimes a man would make me cry uncontrollably by some mean words directed at me. Luckily, I realized that there are people in this world that no matter what you say or do they are just going to be unhappy and direct their negative energy at you. My skin has become thicker and I'm now able to turn a negative conversation around to be more on the positive side.
I have my favorite types of trips to plan: destination weddings, Disney, family trips, couples travel, Hawaii and all-inclusive trips. It makes my heart happy to help someone get their trip of a lifetime planned and executed.
Growing up I truly wasn't great at anything... my brother had football, my cousin had gymnastics, best friend had ballet... so I'm at a point in my life where I finally have some things that I am good at: Travel Consulting and being a mommy.
If you missed the post about 9 Reasons To Use A Good Travel Agent you can see it HERE. ツ
So what about going to school to become a dental hygienist you ask? I slowly stopped going to school. I'm happy with it. Most of the time. ツ Would I be making more money to provide for my family as a Dental Hygienist? Absolutely. I chose happiness over money.
And since every post is better with a picture here is an oldie but goodie ~ smiles to you from our son, the Dylanmeister.
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