Why I chose to become a home-based travel agent

It took me about two years to finally decide to become a home based-travel agent.  It started when I was on vacation with my children at a secluded beachside villa, Cerritos Surfer Colony, in Baja California, Mexico.  I wanted to be on a quiet beach away from all the tourists.  We had a villa right on the beach and a gorgeous pool with a swim up bar, and no tourists.  The only people that stayed there were other people in the know, and surfers looking to hone their skills on the only swimmable surfing beach on the pacific side of the peninsula.

Cerrito's Surf Colony Beach

I was slightly concerned that I had chosen somewhere a little too remote for my children and that they would not find anyone to play with. Was I wrong.  A couple of days into our vacation a campervan, not too dissimilar to the one I had lived out of for a year in my earlier years in Europe, pulled up with a family of 8 children, looking to go surfing.  My children homed in on them immediately and ended up having the best week ever, showing off their somersaults into the pool, culminating in a big gathering in our villa making smoothies with our combined left over fruit.  We are still friends to this day, and they are still travelling.

Working from a friend's cottage in Ontario

Watching the freedom this family had, made me think about how I could bring that into my life.  I was a traveller at heart and being in one place, not travelling, was a cruelty I could no longer bear.  I was not necessarily wanting to pack up all my things and head out in to the big blue yonder as I had done a couple of times in the past,  but I did love the idea of having the freedom to work remotely, whether that be in a coffee shop in my home town, at a cottage overlooking a lake, or on a beach on the Baja Peninsula.

When I came back I knew that my life was going to drastically change, and now it was a matter of figuring out how to make that happen.  I sat down and thought about what my passion was in life and kept coming back to the fact that travel had always been there through thick and thin and that my fondest memories were from when I was on an adventure, experiencing something new for the first time.  So, travel had to be an important part of my decision.  

G Adventures FAM in Nepal - October 2016

I also knew that the happiest time in my career was when I was working for myself as a wellness practitioner in London, UK. I loved the autonomy, having complete control over the direction of my life and my business. Although owning my own business came with great responsibility and cojones, I knew I could do it as I had done it before.   I had taken a leap of faith to start my own business and learnt that when I was working for myself, I put more energy and passion into it than I had with any other job I had ever done.  It was more than a job.  It was my life and my passion.  It didn't feel like work because it was all I ever wanted to do. When I thought about doing this again, and being able to travel, I felt myself light up inside.  I knew I was making the right decision.

Earth Day at Toronto Zoo

I had some restrictions about what I could do within the travel industry.  Although I knew I wanted to travel more, I also knew that I could not be on the road for too long at any one time.  I have children and they are the most important part of my life and so being there for them was my number one priority.  I wanted to have the flexibility to be at my children's school functions, and even pick them up from school sometimes.  Being able to stay at home, but have the option to go travelling when it suited my schedule, was important to me.   I knew that working as a tour operator was not an option.   I couldn't take groups of travellers out to far flung destinations on a regular basis without it becoming too intrusive on my desire to stay close to my children.  

My other restriction as a newcomer to travel was TICO.  In order to be TICO licensed as a business you have to have 3 years management experience within the travel industry, which of course I didn't have.  You also have to register the business which when starting out was a significant investment, and also a moot point without the experience.  I had oodles of management experience but just not within the industry. My options were to work for someone for 3 years and get the experience, which didn't work with my vision of being an entrepreneur, or to hire someone in my business, which financially didn't make sense.   

Round House Adventures

After some further research I found out about another option.  A host agency that supports travel agents who want to either be part of their brand, or, as I wanted, to brand myself as Round House Adventures, and become a home based agent.  This immediately made sense.  I could harness the experience of travel industry experts, get ongoing training and access to supplier relationships I couldn't hope to obtain as a newbie in the industry, and have a personal mentor that I could turn to with any travel related and business building questions.  To top it off, by working from home I would be able to keep my overheads down, and have the flexibility I needed for my family.  Becoming a home-based agent was the perfect solution to my restrictions, and allowed me to live my passion of being an entrepreneur in the travel industry.

For more information about The Travel Agent Next Door please visit www.thetravelagentnextdoor.com

Life before becoming a home based agent.

My varied career within small businesses and start up environments has helped influence and contribute to my decision to become a home based agent. I have also travelled to over 35 countries, starting with family vacations and graduating to many solo adventures all over the world, fostering and maintaining a love of travel.

My first real job after I left college was in my own business as a complimentary wellness consultant, providing therapeutic and sports massage, essential oil therapy for respiratory and muscular conditions, as well as energy balancing through chinese acupressure.   I got to work with customers one on one which I loved and was able to learn many skills of a solo entrepreneur.

After 5 years of running my own business,  I decided to go travelling for a year, something that has been a mainstay throughout my life.  I closed my business, said goodbye to my wonderful clients, sold all my possessions, and bought a 1973 VW van.  I spent the next year living out of the van, driving through France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco, spending time on the south coast of Portugal working for a sailing company.   Travelling for a year, with very few possessions, helped me to learn about what is important to me, foster my love for exploring and enjoy a slower pace of life.

At the end of the year, I moved to Canada with my husband and started a family.  We had 2 children and after my son was 18 months old I went to work for an environmentally focused energy management company, ecobee Inc. in the start up phase of their business.  I joined them in their finance department, helping to put in place the systems and processes needed to facilitate the daily operations of the business.  I managed their e-commerce platform, daily finance operations, and implemented and managed their inventory system and logistics.  I was also the main point of contact for our external sales teams and finance contact for business and consumer customers.  Once we got bigger, I put together an inside sales team that could manage the growing needs of our north american sales teams and North American customers.   

After a few years of growing the team, I moved over to our business development team where I managed our larger North American partners, from multi-retail restaurants, U.S. utility companies and retail energy providers.  I helped implement statewide energy management savings programs, maintained and helped grow accounts to increase revenue.

Working for ecobee taught me a lot about environmental issues and what is currently being done to conserve our valuable resources.  I wanted to find a way to contribute more positively to my surroundings and the world.  I started to think about how I could develop my own business, do more of what I am passionate about, which was travelling, and actively contribute to the conservation of the planet's resources.  

After 6 years I decided it was time to move on but I knew I still had some learning to do before I could launch my own business.   With that in mind, I left ecobee to join another startup business, PostBeyond, specialising in social media marketing, and employee engagement and advocacy, with the express intention of learning about social media for business.  I strategized with global marketing teams of high profile companies, including within the travel industry, on their digital marketing strategies and helped them to engage their employees and create advocacy within their company to increase their social media presence.

In April 2016, I launched Round House Adventures, an adventure travel consulting business, providing wilderness, cultural and activity based small group and customized tours.   The tour operators I work with actively contribute to the sustainable future of the communities and environments they visit, so that travellers can have amazing adventures, have meaningful experiences, create lifelong memories, and feel confident that they are not only minimizing their environmental impact but are also contributing to indigenous communities and landscapes in a positive way.

In the first month of my new business I went to hear Jane Goodall speak in Toronto.  During her talk she said that sustainable tourism is the best way to save the planet.  It alleviates poverty which is the number one issue preventing communities from protecting their environments.  By bringing tourists to these destinations in a responsible and sustainable way, these communities can feed their families and be able to start looking after their communities and surroundings.   This was great validation for me as I started my business.

For more information about The Travel Agent Next Door please visit www.thetravelagentnextdoor.com