Meet Lisa, who has just won the Mental Health Matters Award at Travel Weekly’s Agent Achievement Awards.
We think she deserves it, but so does her husband Paul.
Why? Because they have stuck by their business even when the odds are against them.
You see Paul had a brain hemorrhage 12 months after they started their home based travel consultancy after Lisa took voluntary redundancy.
Says Lisa: “We were putting the shopping away one day and Paul suddenly felt like he’d been hit over the head with a cricket bat. I was really concerned. I sat him down and I rang 111 and got the medic out to him. After that the ambulance came, rushed him off to hospital, operated on him right away and he was in intensive care for weeks.”
After Paul came out of hospital, Lisa says the recovery was so long that it began to affect his mental health. But as they were both full time in the business Lisa had to keep going.
“I had to look after him as well as trying to keep the business running. And as we have four children so it was a bit of a struggle.”
Indeed for Paul, every day was a struggle, too.
“I had no identity of who I was before the operation. I just sat crying. There were days where I just literally cried for hours and hours. I had to get counselling and medication but during that time, Lisa was always a rock. I became a priority and not the business.”
Despite this (and Covid!) the couple have achieved over £3 million in sales.
“We have a lot of repeat customers and word of mouth referrals and we speak to everyone wherever we go and tell them what we do.”
With their positive ‘can do’ attitude, it’s no wonder their customers love them.
Paul and Lisa (aka The Travel Freaks) enjoy organising all sorts of trips from big groups (they’ve just planned a rugby tour for a local rugby club) to short breaks for couples. But the bulk of their business is Jet2 packages – and after many years they clearly know the product inside out.
And the couple absolutely love what they do, always finding time to attend fam trips to exotic locations like St Lucia and industry functions in Manchester to learn more about our travel suppliers and what they can offer their customers.
But the flexibility of the business means they can always take time out for each other.
“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done to be honest. Working from home. It just fits in well with our lifestyle.”
So what would Lisa tell someone who is thinking of following in her footsteps and starting their own travel business?
“Just do it. If you’re into travel, and it’s something you want to do, definitely. To me it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I really enjoy it.”
