Before becoming a travel agent I worked in small businesses and start-up environments. I either worked on my own, or with a small team of committed individuals, requiring me to draw on my resourcefulness to troubleshoot problems. There is no room in the startup world for people who want to just coast, or give less than 100%, and so invariably the people I worked with were lively and passionate individuals, making for an exciting and dynamic environment.
My first experience in a start up was with my own business as a wellness consultant in London, UK. I was a solo entrepreneur and so all aspects of the business fell on my shoulders. I sourced suppliers, building relationships and forming agreements that benefited the bottom line of my business. I worked with clients on their health plan and became very adept at reading people and understanding their needs, sometimes before they did. I learnt how to balance books and market my business to the local community. The one thing I learnt above all else though was tenacity. My success came from showing up every day, even when there were no clients, and giving my all to every interaction and conversation. I never knew where the next opportunity would come from but knew that my hard work would pay off eventually.
Other people saw my commitment to my profession and my passion for my craft, and I built a reputation for being reliable and someone that could be trusted. As well as the repeat business I got from direct marketing, I received referrals from people who had been watching me on the sidelines. They knew they could trust their personal reputations with me and referred their friends and family. It taught me a valuable lesson about making sure that I upheld my business ethics and integrity, even when I thought noone was watching.
I also learnt to create balance in my life. It is so easy to get caught up in feeling like you need to be available 100% of the time, but I learnt early on that when you set realistic boundaries for yourself and others, it's amazing how people will accommodate them. I didn't want a life where I was working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I also knew that I wouldn't be able to maintain it and would eventually burn out, which would be no good for anyone. I made sure that I had time away from work and completely shut off from my business. During the quiet times I made sure I didn't stress but just took that time as an opportunity to look after myself and enjoy my family. It seemed to pay off. I was able to be 100% present when I was working and was able to separate myself and be present for my friends and family when I wasn't at work.
After I moved to Canada and started a family, I took a position with an environmentally focused energy management company, ecobee Inc., in Toronto. I started in their finance department, working in an operations role, creating systems and processes for the daily finance operations. I managed a variety of positions, from finance, to customer service, to business development, that in a larger company would have had many people managing, but because of the nature of startups and their need to be lean in the early days, I gained skills in multiple areas within this growing company.
We were all managers of our departments, even if that department was made up of one, which meant I had a lot of autonomy in my position to make decisions that would improve my position, and positively impact the rest of the company. It was a question of working smarter not harder. With little to no budget to help solution ideas, I relied on my ability to think my way through a problem and work with what I had to be successful.
After three years I created their inside sales department to manage their growing support needs for both clients and their sales teams, and then on to build and grow our North American enterprise partnerships within the energy and multi retail space. It was a great time to learn how to be a consultant rather than a salesperson. I have never considered myself a 'salesperson'. I like to help people find a solution to their problems, and if I can offer something that works for them then it's a win win in my book. I would never want to be in a position of having to sell something to someone that they didn't want. That doesn't work for me. My integrity is all I have going through life and so it is important to me that what I am offering is of value to the other person.
I believed in what I was doing at ecobee, helping corporations and energy companies be more environmentally responsible. Being involved in an environmentally focused company introduced me to people that were more conscious of the planet's resources and our impact. It made me more aware of my own impact on the world, and started me on the road to figuring out how I could make a more immediate and positive contribution to the planet's future.
Towards the end of my tenure at ecobee, I decided I wanted to move into an industry that aligned with my own passions and would allow me to positively impact the environment and the people in it. I knew that the world had become digital since my last entrepreneurial endeavour and so it was necessary for me to learn the skills of the modern age. I took a position with a social media marketing company, PostBeyond, as a customer success manager, so that I could learn about social media for business. I worked with global marketing teams who were creating their own digital strategies, including within the travel space. The information I gained from this experience has been invaluable to my own success on various social media platforms, understanding where my customers are and the types of posts that are of interest.
My passion for travel, combined with my own entrepreneurial endeavours, and my experience working for an environmentally focused startup company, gave me the skills, and the desire, to launch my own environmentally and socially conscious business from within the travel space.
I believe that responsible and sustainable travel is the best way to empower communities around the world to start protecting their own environments. By showing tourists a more immersive experience in these destinations, meeting the locals and experiencing a different way of life, I am helping to create a more meaningful experience for the traveller, create awareness around the issues small communities face, and above all help to alleviate poverty that can prevent communities from being able to protect their local environment.
For more information about The Travel Agent Next Door please visit www.thetravelagentnextdoor.com
My first experience in a start up was with my own business as a wellness consultant in London, UK. I was a solo entrepreneur and so all aspects of the business fell on my shoulders. I sourced suppliers, building relationships and forming agreements that benefited the bottom line of my business. I worked with clients on their health plan and became very adept at reading people and understanding their needs, sometimes before they did. I learnt how to balance books and market my business to the local community. The one thing I learnt above all else though was tenacity. My success came from showing up every day, even when there were no clients, and giving my all to every interaction and conversation. I never knew where the next opportunity would come from but knew that my hard work would pay off eventually. Other people saw my commitment to my profession and my passion for my craft, and I built a reputation for being reliable and someone that could be trusted. As well as the repeat business I got from direct marketing, I received referrals from people who had been watching me on the sidelines. They knew they could trust their personal reputations with me and referred their friends and family. It taught me a valuable lesson about making sure that I upheld my business ethics and integrity, even when I thought noone was watching.
After I moved to Canada and started a family, I took a position with an environmentally focused energy management company, ecobee Inc., in Toronto. I started in their finance department, working in an operations role, creating systems and processes for the daily finance operations. I managed a variety of positions, from finance, to customer service, to business development, that in a larger company would have had many people managing, but because of the nature of startups and their need to be lean in the early days, I gained skills in multiple areas within this growing company.
We were all managers of our departments, even if that department was made up of one, which meant I had a lot of autonomy in my position to make decisions that would improve my position, and positively impact the rest of the company. It was a question of working smarter not harder. With little to no budget to help solution ideas, I relied on my ability to think my way through a problem and work with what I had to be successful.After three years I created their inside sales department to manage their growing support needs for both clients and their sales teams, and then on to build and grow our North American enterprise partnerships within the energy and multi retail space. It was a great time to learn how to be a consultant rather than a salesperson. I have never considered myself a 'salesperson'. I like to help people find a solution to their problems, and if I can offer something that works for them then it's a win win in my book. I would never want to be in a position of having to sell something to someone that they didn't want. That doesn't work for me. My integrity is all I have going through life and so it is important to me that what I am offering is of value to the other person.
I believed in what I was doing at ecobee, helping corporations and energy companies be more environmentally responsible. Being involved in an environmentally focused company introduced me to people that were more conscious of the planet's resources and our impact. It made me more aware of my own impact on the world, and started me on the road to figuring out how I could make a more immediate and positive contribution to the planet's future.
Towards the end of my tenure at ecobee, I decided I wanted to move into an industry that aligned with my own passions and would allow me to positively impact the environment and the people in it. I knew that the world had become digital since my last entrepreneurial endeavour and so it was necessary for me to learn the skills of the modern age. I took a position with a social media marketing company, PostBeyond, as a customer success manager, so that I could learn about social media for business. I worked with global marketing teams who were creating their own digital strategies, including within the travel space. The information I gained from this experience has been invaluable to my own success on various social media platforms, understanding where my customers are and the types of posts that are of interest.
My passion for travel, combined with my own entrepreneurial endeavours, and my experience working for an environmentally focused startup company, gave me the skills, and the desire, to launch my own environmentally and socially conscious business from within the travel space. I believe that responsible and sustainable travel is the best way to empower communities around the world to start protecting their own environments. By showing tourists a more immersive experience in these destinations, meeting the locals and experiencing a different way of life, I am helping to create a more meaningful experience for the traveller, create awareness around the issues small communities face, and above all help to alleviate poverty that can prevent communities from being able to protect their local environment.
For more information about The Travel Agent Next Door please visit www.thetravelagentnextdoor.com
