Meet Bejoy Mathew, aged 43, he lives in Manchester. After a challenging year, contemplating quitting at one point, he has turned a corner and credits his family & Partnership Manager.
Bejoy first started his business back in 2018, after choosing to leave his career in the hotel industry to return home to look after his son who needs 24/7 care. We caught up with him to find out more…
For those who don’t know, could you describe what a ‘Partnership Manager’ is?
A ‘Partnership Manager’ or PM, is like a guardian angel. Everyone gets one when they join and as you grow your business you’ll get the opportunity to work closely with them.
When you are working on your own, you have to make all these decisions, and it’s hard.
A partnership manager will be by your side, every step of the way, it’s so valuable and priceless.
It’s like having someone to share everything with, to get advice from.
The Partnership Managers have so much knowledge and expertise that you can tap into, they help you grow your business.
The truth is I’m an introvert at heart, I don’t find it easy to speak to people. Dave, my new Partnership Manager speaks to me regularly.
I’m the kind of person who needs a push every so often. He is always there encouraging me.
A partnership manager is essential, but see what else is included here >
14 Cruise bookings in the last 10 days, that’s incredible, how did that come about?
I decided to promote just one thing, focusing on cruises. The funny thing is I’ve never ever cruised before!
I created a kind of online poster for the Cruise offer, I sent it to my WhatsApp groups that I had created over the years.
I have 3 different WhatsApp groups.
One of them is my close family, in which I only share family holiday offers. I have another group which I only send solo-travel offers, and finally, the third group is for couples only.
My Partnership Manager suggested that I go to ‘MSC Cruise’ to take their online training. It will literally teach you everything you need to know. I’m still doing the training now… It’s so detailed.
14 cruise bookings so far, they’ll be setting sail in May 2021. Indeed, they were all booked in the last 10 days. Docking from Southampton, they will be visiting France and Belgium, and then back again.
Looking back over the last 6 months, there were some dark moments, I can see a bright future ahead of me now.
When people ask me when I started my business, I say, ‘Officially 2018, but really I restarted my business in October this year.’
I now have more confidence than ever before!
What would you say to others out there considering starting their own travel business from home?
Don’t give up. I have given up a few times. But something deep inside me keeps me going. I think it’s my family. The support of my family has been incredible.
Ask yourself what’s your ‘Why’. Once you know this it will help get you through the tough times.
I would also say to know yourself and how you like to work, as everyone is different. In the beginning, I worked from home but this wasn’t a good choice for me.
I’m not very disciplined, I like to watch TV. So, I decided to rent some office space near my home, so I would focus on my business more.
Some people are really disciplined and are more productive at home, but for me, it was a distraction.
What’s next for Bejoy’s travel business?
I’m expecting a lot of bookings with ‘peaks’ just around the corner.
Because of the way I dealt with customer refunds and the fact I was there for them during the turbulent times that 2020 brought, they are now all talking about me to their friends and family.
I can see this chain reaction happening.
