Meet Anne, a midwife for 18 years who booked more than 17 holidays in her first month straight out of training (just a few weeks after having a heart attack!).
Now she’s sold so many holidays that she’s beaten our Money-Back Challenge in under 7 months which means we’re refunding her £14,995 franchise fee (yes, it’s a unique incentive that no other franchise offers and Anne is the fifth to win it in a week!).
Despite admitting that she’s not tech savvy, Anne, 59, has already mastered how to use our travel agent booking system with the help of our head office support team (you can ring them if you get stuck).
“For me, the hardest bit was the technology but over the past few weeks, that’s got easier. The support’s been really good.”
Anne, who lives in Doncaster, has never worked in travel before but she’s always loved holidays and taken quite a few in her time.
“I have a little bit of a nickname -– everybody calls me Judith (Chalmers) because of my passion for going on holiday and traveling the world.”
Like many of our franchisees, Anne plans to work part time on her travel business alongside another job – in her case part time in the NHS.
“I still have a passion for my job as a midwife so I want to keep up my skills there as well until I’m ready to hang up my hat.”
So what transferable skills does she bring to her new career?
“Well, I think it’s just dealing with people from different walks of life and perhaps my own passion for travel. I have a lot to talk about, but I’ve still got a lot to learn. I’ve not visited every part of the world and even the places that I’ve visited there’s still a lot that I don’t know about. So it’s all a learning curve.”
This is where our suppliers come to the rescue. You can guarantee that what Anne doesn’t know about a destination then our knowledgeable suppliers will. They’re always on hand to help her plan itineraries to far flung places such as Japan.
One area Anne is confident about however is cruises – and she’s already booked 11 of them!
“I’ve been cruising for the past 17 years and love it.”
Anne has joined our Cruise Division and has worked through our cruise mastery training course to ensure she knows every sector of this niche area of travel which offers high commissions and repeat customers.
Anne loves her new job in travel and enjoys finding customers the right holiday at a fantastic price.
“I actually enjoy the challenge of getting the customer a good deal. I want my customers to get the good deal that I’d want to get.”
So where would she like to be in five years time?
“Well, I think travelling the world while doing this – I mean, what more could anybody want?”
As for her health: Anne is making a swift recovery. Doing something she loves while only working the hours she wants from the comfort of her own home are allowing her to take things at her own pace while achieving that perfect work-life balance.
