At 17 years old Emily left college with a GNVQ in leisure and tourism. But she had no idea where or what to do with it.
While she worked out what she wanted to do, she got a job working for her parents in their butchery and bakery shop in Matlock, Derbyshire.
It was supposed to be a stop gap.
Some 22 years later she was still there running the bakery.
That was never her intention, but life took over. She went on to have a family of her own and she never found the time to work out what she really wanted to do.
That was until Covid struck. Emily worked her socks off during the pandemic helping her family keep the business running. They were busier than ever branching out doing deliveries.
By the time the lockdowns were lifted, Emily was left physically and mentally exhausted. She’d reached rock bottom and had to step back. She desperately needed a break.
Although she’d always booked her own holidays online, this time she just didn’t have the capacity. She didn’t have the energy and she didn’t have the time. She felt incapable of making the decisions. Close to tears she went to her local travel agent. Within half an hour Emily’s much-needed holiday was all booked. The relief she felt was incredible. Stepping out of the travel agency Emily thought: “I’d love to do that”.
Perhaps that GNVQ that she’d done all those years ago would finally make sense? Perhaps this is what she was always supposed to do?
Emily made the very tough decision to leave the family business. “I felt guilty but I knew I had to finally do something for myself.”
Months of research followed and in December 2021 Emily launched her brand new travel consultancy with The Travel Franchise.
Listen to Emily explaining her story to us six months after she started!
To say her life has blossomed is an understatement.
“I absolutely love it. I’m living my best life. This job has taken me to places that I never thought I could ever go. I often wake up and think that it’s not my life because it’s something I’ve always dreamed of and it’s so far from what I was doing. What I was doing was almost ground hog day every single day. I can honestly say I love my job now.”
Having said that, as you would expect when launching any business, it’s taken hard work, perseverance and patience.
“Don’t go in expecting to be making thousands of bookings straight away. There are people that can do it almost straight away, but for the majority of us it does just take time. I’ve really had to work on my confidence and if I’m honest I still don’t really enjoy networking – that’s something that I have to work on. Most of my business comes via social media and recommendations.
Emily says like many things in life it sometimes just takes time.
“The saying that ‘people buy from people’ is very true. But it’s not always easy so use all the support you can get from Not Just Travel and follow their advice because it works.”
Every consultant that joins The Travel Franchise is appointed a Business Development Manager (BDM). They’re not your boss. They’re there to mentor, encourage and inspire you.
“Having been my own boss all my working life I found it hard to ask for help. But I soon found that my BDM was invaluable and I still have regular meetings with her.”
Now Emily’s in her third year. She’s got a database of around 250 customers and a good percentage of repeat business.
She’s learnt how important it is to nurture her clients. She goes that extra mile. For example, Emily was approached by a family that hadn’t travelled for years. The son’s allergies made the family desperately nervous to travel to new places. Emily took all this on board and for the family’s first holiday to Spain Emily made them a specially-printed lanyard explaining the situation in Spanish so they could simply show this to the restaurant managers.
“This was just a little personal touch from me to help them overcome their fears. Since that first trip they’ve booked four more holidays with me and they’re such confident travellers now.”
Emily likes to make life as easy for her customers as possible. For her local elderly clients she’ll often visit their homes to help them with all their paperwork and she stays on top of all her bookings to ensure everyone’s checked in smoothly.
“I like to think I can be that person who takes the stress away. So many people go online to book their holidays and they just confuse themselves and go around in circles. Our lives are so busy and the juggles are very real and if you’ve got families and you’re working, it’s hard. I know what that’s like myself. I’m here to take all that stress away.”
Using our unique booking systems, Emily is able to navigate the thousands of options from more than 450 tour operators quickly in order to choose the right holiday package or curate a tailor-made itinerary that’s perfect for her clients. Everything is at her fingertips.
Over the past three years she’s also built up a bank of favourite suppliers and her destination knowledge has grown hugely.
“Sometimes I instantly know where I’m going to suggest a client should go – and nine times out of 10 I get it right.”
Luckily she’s experienced many destinations herself thanks to being invited on overseas ‘fam’ trips – trips hosted by tourist boards or tour operators designed to familiarise agents with a particular destination. Italy, Austria and a trip on a luxury Star Clipper yacht are to name but three.
In addition, she’s joined us on several of our corporate overseas training trips. All of our consultants who sign up to our most popular Elite package get to join us on two overseas mentorships as part of the package. This includes a VIP trip to an exotic destination. In Emily’s case she joined us on the sun-soaked island of Mauritius.
“It really was a trip of a lifetime. I loved it.”
Travel is a massive perk for Emily. And occasionally she gets to take her son with her too. In February they’re both off to Canada for a spot of snowboarding.
“I would never have been able to do that without being part of the franchise really, because we get these incredible offers. I always like to have the next trip booked – it’s great motivation.”
It’s certainly a long way from the butchery and bakery where she spent 22 long years.
“I finally took control of my life. I love what I do and I love knowing that I can work from anywhere in the world. I’m not tied down to one place. I’m like a digital nomad. I’m free!”
