Karen is one of our latest consultants to set up shop in a local cafe for a few hours a week. It’s all to promote her travel business, which she runs in her spare time.
Although she and her husband only launched their travel consultancy at the end of May 2021, by June 2022 they had sold over £200,000 worth of holidays. And that’s despite the fact they both work full time running their own successful construction business.
Karen tells us how it came about.
“During our initial training to become consultants, we were given countless tips on how to find customers. One really appealed to me – to launch a pop-up shop in a local coffee shop or cafe one morning a week.
I tried it a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it.
Now, every Thursday, locals can find me at The Waterfront cafe in Rhos on Sea from 10am-12 noon, sit in comfy chairs, sip coffee and tell me what they would like from a holiday.”
Karen then returns home, creates an itinerary and then sends them a quote.
“It works for me because while I’m nervous doing live social media I’m a real chatterbox in person. I’m now looking for another venue in town so I can run a pop-up travel clinic on a Tuesday, too.”
She also gets lots of bookings by word-of-mouth
Like most of our consultants, Karen started by booking holidays for her friends and family. It wasn’t long before she had plenty of referrals and repeat business.
“I sent a couple of clients to Dubai and Thailand and when they returned they asked me to book their annual ski holiday. Then they asked me to create a long and complex itinerary to India which will cost around £15,000!”
Karen, who specialises in holidays to Florida, has now signed up to our Cruise Mastery Programme. It’s 12-months of highly actionable education and trips that will enable her to grow her knowledge of cruising and graduate with a ‘Master of Cruises’.
“We’ve just finished the module on Norwegian Cruise Lines and found it really informative. The programme isn’t daunting or like an exam at all. It’s more like a quiz and I really enjoy it.”
She loves the help, support and community that’s available
While Karen has never worked in travel before, she knows she can always find an answer to a question that she does not know.
“The support is great. If I have a question I’ll ask other travel consultants (TCs) in my training group or my business development manager.
I’ve also made quite a few friends within NJT so I never think: Crikey, I’m on my own!
NJT’s consultants aren’t in competition with each other. I know I can pick up the phone to two or three other TCs and get help from them.”
One of Karen’s contacts is travel consultant, Julie Moss, who has also made holiday bookings and had referrals by launching pop-up travel services in coffee shops. Watch Julie’s story here…
Would you love to run a part-time or full-time travel consultancy?
