Clive: A new adventure at 70
For most of his working life, Clive was behind the bar, running pubs and pulling pints. But lockdown made him pause and rethink.
“Once the tenancy finished, I thought I should look for something else to do. I don’t want to retire – I enjoy meeting people too much.”
That’s when he discovered The Travel Franchise. With a bit of savings and a lot of enthusiasm, Clive invested and took the leap.
“I’m glad I did. The training was excellent – and if you need extra help, you have a personal Business Development Manager always there to sort it.”
Launching in late 2022, Clive’s business didn’t take off immediately – ill health slowed him down at first but once he joined networking groups, things quickly gathered pace.
“I’ve joined seven groups now. Once one person books with you, it snowballs. I’ve had ski trips worth £17,500 and tailor-made adventures to Canada with 103-page itineraries!”
But it’s not just about the bookings. Clive has discovered something even better: a whole new lifestyle. He’s swapped pub walls for Norwegian fjords and company fam trips to the Caribbean. Along the way, he’s made friends for life.
“The people I meet are great – other consultants, head office, clients. I can’t wait to get on the next trip.”
Now he’s building a business he hopes to pass on to his daughter, while enjoying every moment of seeing the world himself.
From pouring pints to Caribbean sunsets, Clive proves it’s never too late to start again.
Gaynor
Meet Gaynor who bought a franchise in 2018 when she got tired of commuting and spending around 24 hours on the M6 every week.
A self-proclaimed cruise addict (now with 81 cruises under her belt), it’s no surprise that a travel franchise was at the top of her list when she was offered voluntary redundancy while working for an FMCG company.
After joining as an Elite, she launched her Not Just Travel agency and it didn’t take long for her business to pick up, despite having no former experience in the travel industry.
“Don’t be afraid if you’ve never sold travel before because you have a whole network of suppliers and the support of NJT,” says Gaynor, who’s in her sixties.
“I have been on a lot of cruises but I don’t know everything about every destination.
“Having access to NJT’s key trade partners and 500-plus suppliers means you can tap into and use their knowledge and that is really important.”
Adrian
Adrian returned to the UK in 2019 after spending 21 years in Spain working in a completely different industry. Recovering from a back operation, he wanted something flexible that he could do from home. He joined The Travel Franchise that September, aged 60. Some might have thought it was risky, but for Adrian, it turned out to be the best decision he ever made.
Now he’s running a thriving business, with customers who love booking their holidays through him, and he regularly gets invited on free “fam trips” around the world. Not bad for something that began as a late-in-life leap of faith.
“I didn’t join until I was 60 years old, so yes, it felt like a gamble to start a new business at that age. But the support and help I’ve had has been invaluable. As it’s not manual work, it’s the kind of business you can carry on and do from home – or anywhere in the world, to be fair.”
Travel has always been Adrian’s passion, and now running his own agency lets him combine that love with his work.
“I’ve always wanted to see the world,” he says. “Now, through The Travel Franchise, I get to do exactly that. And the best part? I can share those experiences with my clients.”
One of Adrian’s big passions is cruising. “I’m a cruise addict,” he laughs. “I try to cruise two, three, even four times a year. Luckily, my wife loves it too!”
Recently he was invited on a five-night Fred Olsen cruise – for free. In the industry it’s called a “fam trip,” where suppliers invite you to experience their product so you can sell it better.
But being away doesn’t mean switching off. Adrian actually secured two bookings while onboard. “I had a cruise and a Vietnam touring enquiry during the cruise. I confirmed both as soon as I got back. That’s the beauty of this business – you can take your laptop anywhere, hop on the Wi-Fi, and still run things.”
Andy
Andy joined in 2019 and has been hugely successful running a busy pop-up travel shop in Bristol’s shopping centre until disaster struck in June 2024.
“After building my business locally for three years, the lease was suddenly taken away with just a month’s notice — and no explanation. I was crestfallen.”
Andy was worried his customers would forget him but Natalie, one of our most experienced BDMs, helped him make a plan.
“She was adamant I could make it work. Together, we quickly developed a strategy launching mobile pop-ups and fresh community initiatives.”
The result? Andy’s fears of fading into the background were unfounded.
With Natalie’s guidance, he’s now beating his previous in-store sales figures – all without a physical shopfront.
“I’m delighted with the support I had from Natalie. I honestly thought the business was over, but now it’s thriving.”
Greg
Greg joined us in May 2023 running his business part-time basis while also working in corporate sales.
Although he was keen to retire from his stressful sales job, this didn’t mean he wanted to completely retire and do nothing. Travel is Greg’s passion and the idea of organising travel for a living was appealing. Even more so, the idea of being more in control of his life was hugely attractive.
“Not Just Travel has given me the ability to do what I want, as much as I want, for as long as I want and have much more control over my own destiny.
“The original plan was to generate a business that I could make work no matter where I was in the world. For example, my partner and I could easily rent a gîte in France for May and June every year and I can still operate. As long as I have an internet connection and I offer great customer service I can do this job from anywhere.”
While Greg has spent years as a salesman, he admits that as a travel agent his sales skills are not essential.
“This is far from a hardcore sales job.You’re not selling things to people who don’t want to buy. They want to go on holiday and if they’re paying no more for the service that you offer and you’re giving them great personal contact, why would they not book with you?”
Not only has Greg been hugely successful, he’s also finding job satisfaction travelling the world and making memories for other people.
“Learning about destinations I don’t already know is really fulfilling. It gives me a real buzz being able to utilise that knowledge and pass it on. I love it when I get a call from the client once they get home and they tell me how lovely everything was and that it was exactly as I’d described. It gives me a warm glow inside.”
Marietta
Action woman Marietta, aged 65, from Hampshire, skis almost every winter, has scuba dived the Great Barrier Reef and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
Despite working in travel, for a tour operator then AITO, nothing seemed to satisfy her wanderlust and no adventure was too big a challenge.
However, after the pandemic shut down global travel, Marietta was made redundant. Her full-time role was no more and she feared facing age discrimination trying to find another job at 59.
But as one door closed, Marietta opened another, taking the decision to become her own boss.
After training as an independent travel consultant with The Travel Franchise, bookings have flooded in as customers appreciate her extensive travel experience.
“Until redundancy, I never had the confidence to make the leap myself,” says Marietta.
“Now that I have, it’s liberating.
Marietta has enjoyed agent ‘fam’ trips to destinations including Costa Rica and Cape Town and has also achieved another dream: building a home in Cyprus.
“The great thing about the franchise is that I can run my business from anywhere!”
Nick and Paula
Like many couples in their late 50s and early 60s, Paula and Nick, would like to retire and travel the world, but they need to build up their savings and pension pot first.
Nick, formerly in the Royal Army Medical Corps and currently in medical sales, and Paula, who has worked in procurement roles for 25 years, however, developed a plan: Invest in a franchise, build up their agency alongside their current careers and then retire doing something fun that enables them to travel more and still earn an income.
“There are a lot of people our age retiring at the moment and we’d like to be in a position where we can retire, run a business, have an income and enjoy what we do,” says Paula.
“We love travelling and scuba diving so we thought why not do something we love in our spare time while looking after our pension.”
“If you have a laptop and wifi you can do this job from a beach.”
Nick and Paula had formerly joined another travel franchise but found the company limiting in terms of the number of holidays they were able to sell.
“When we saw that The Travel Franchise and its customer-facing brand Not Just Travel has access to over 500 travel companies as opposed to around 40, we knew we could make it a serious business,” says Nick.
Indeed, the couple are now booking an impressive array of holidays in their spare time and edging towards their dream life.
John
For 20 years John sold frozen food door-to-door and managed a depot. But, when he was 55, sitting in bed unable to sleep at 4am, he realised it was time for a change.
“I wanted a new challenge and one morning when I couldn’t sleep due to a bad back I was scrolling the internet and an advert for The Travel Franchise popped up.”
Born in Canada and having lived on the east coast of America, John has always enjoyed travelling. As he no longer wanted to work full time, the flexibility and the opportunity to travel appealed to him.
“After doing some due diligence into competitors, I decided I liked the support The Travel Franchise offered and signed up.”
That was five years ago. Today, John, aged 60, has established a solid group of clients, ranging from family and friends to those sourced via his local Business Network International (BNI) group.
“Travelling for work gives me the opportunity to see the world but I also get pleasure sending others to enjoy the same thing.”
