Meet Lindsay, aged 44, she lives with her family in the West Midlands. Her passion outside of travel is rabbits. She has 2 rescue bunnies at home and even visited ‘bunny island’ in Japan.
She runs a successful online jewellery business with her husband Tom, who will also be her business partner in the travel business. They chose the Elite Franchise package for the FAM trips, extra training & The Money Back Challenge.
Tom and I built our online retail business on our own, starting from zero.
For our 2nd business, we wanted to get going faster, to be part of something bigger, where the support, training, and recipe for success was already known.
Where and when did your love of travel start?
Tom and I have always loved to travel. My dad was my inspiration. He was born in China but saved all his money to travel around Europe, which was quite unusual back then.
As a child, my dad took me to the Great Wall of China, the terracotta soldiers, and the forbidden city, which had a real impact on me.
At Durham University Tom and I went interrailing together in Europe for 5 weeks. When the children were born, we spent our holidays in Cornwall for a number of years.
We then took the kids to Hong Kong, Australia, Bali, we did Iceland this year during the pandemic. Japan is our all-time favorite destination.
We have the travel bug. Our kids have the travel bug. So, when I found out I could turn my love of travel into a business I knew it was for us.
What was your first-ever holiday booking for and how did it feel?
My first-ever booking was completely unexpected. It was from one of the parents from school. They contacted me via Facebook messenger.
The couple had a concert ticket for the Duran-Duran concert in April 2021 and they wanted accommodation for it. I booked them an Easyjet holiday and positioned them close to the concert.
It felt so great that they chose me to book this trip.
The fact I got to get a booking so soon after training, gave me confidence, as you’re naturally doubting yourself after starting a new business.
Why did you decide to start your own business?
I started looking at options back in 2018 and I came across The Travel Franchise on Google. We were very busy with our online jewellery business at the time and it all got put on the backburner.
In February 2020, after the Christmas rush, I felt that time was passing me by and I wasn’t getting closer to my dream of working in travel.
So, I started to revisit what I had looked at in 2018.
I watched the video tour again, we went to the BIG event in London and met the founder’s Paul and Steve which was great.
Why did you choose The Travel Franchise?
I was so impressed by the online advertising run by The Travel Franchise, the fresh, engaging content on the website, and The Travel Podcast.
It’s so clear that there is constant innovation in the business.
The fact the company is already living what they teach. They are a role model on how to get attention online.
How has the experience been since joining?
Tom and I did the live-online training in our kitchen. It actually worked really well for us, as it fitted in with our lifestyle and family.
The first few days after training are a little overwhelming, as you now have to make it happen. Ben, my partnership manager has been very helpful.
My husband Tom is a real whizz on the computer, so it really helps to be doing this together.
It really helped to have a few enquiries come in before the initial training ended, I then had these to work on from the moment I left training.
I did an announcement on Facebook which helped. I already had a reputation amongst friends and family as the person to go to for advice about travel, this has been many years in the making.
