Working from home

[Travel Mum]

Although I book all sorts of people, I specialise in Travel with Kids and have a website with that name which, shamefully, is getting out of date now as I don't have time to update it much. That's how my brokering started though. I had worked for QF before having children and went back part time after having DD1. However it made no financial sense to go back to that job after having DD2 (I would have only broken even after paying for two at day care) so I became a happy stay-at-home mum. We went on to have DD3 but, by the time she was about 2, I began to play around with building my website. I had been shocked to find out firsthand how hard it was to find accommodation that would fit five in a room and decided I'd build a website for Family of Five travel, sharing what I'd learnt. Well, sadly, I soon realised there would not be enough content if I only listed hotels that would fit five in a room so I expanded it to profile family friendly hotels in the Pacific with a special subsection for families of five. Anyway, after building that, I decided that, although it was fun, I wasn't earning anything from it. I dont charge the hotels to be profiled on it because I want to reserve my right to post my opinions on how suitable a hotel is for families. So I decided that I would become a Travel Broker and use my website a platform to gain clients. Well, it worked well and my client base grew from recommendations and referrals. Now it's a problem though because my broker work and family life leaves me hardly any time to spend on maintaining or growing the website As a result, I don't tell anyone about it anymore so don't any of you go looking for it!!!

As a friend I'd love to help any of you coming to NZ but, as a broker, I'm an international broker so won't even pretend to be expert on NZ travel. Sure I do love our extraordinary country and am a proud Kiwi but, I'm ashamed to say, travelling here does not really excite me like international travel does. NZ is expensive, which sounds like how you Aussies find your own country, but I'd presume you wouldn't find it as expensive as Australia because your dollar goes a lot further here given our awful exchange rate with the Aussie dollar

Anyway, that's all from me on this topic as I don't come on here to talk about my work - I come here to ESCAPE IT!! Here I am just Travelmum, a happily married mother of three gorgeous girls who loves to travel with her family and who frequently has travel dreams outside of financial reality

[5ofus]

Originally Posted by Ms. Shuttergirl

Battymum, that is so true. Kids seem to have so much going on these days. It truly is a like a fulltime job.

My DH has a very busy career and is interstate 2 days per week and I often think we can't keep up with these dual careers. We can't both be busy at the same time. Life just doesn't work that way, well very well anyway.

Yep, my kids are only 1,3 and five and they are always doing something, or have apps. DH is a stay at home dad and I'm stuck commuting to and from work for 3-4 hours a day

[areweindisneyyet]

Originally Posted by Travel Mum

Ditto, ditto, ditto for me too. Here I am sitting back at my desk after having done dinner for the family etc because I work from home and I have work to do (admittedly jumping on the Disboards at the moment for a quick break! ). The nature of my job is that I am available 24/7 and the only time I am not on call is when I go overseas and get a colleague to look after my business. Mainly though I do not have to work weekends but I have to be on call if clients need me urgently. It's not common but I do sometimes get calls in the middle of the night from the other side of the world (most often ignorant airline staff who do not stop and think about what time it is in New Zealand before they call! )

What does she do, I hear you ask. Well, I've never really mentioned it on here because my profession gets flamed somewhat on these boards. I am a Travel Broker however I promise that I come on these boards purely for my own personal pleasure and not at all in my work capacity. So please still "talk" to me!

So, on one hand, working from home is great because I can be here for the children and can take them to and from school, to all their after-school activities, go on school trips if I can spare the time and, as Ms Shuttergirl mentioned, I am here for them if they are sick. But the downside is that it is a 24/7 job and, when your home is your work place, you never get that feeling of relief that you do when you finish your working day at your work place and walk in your front door at home.

I have a confession to make, I too am a Travel Planner! and come here for my own sick Disney pleasure like everyone else and not for work. I am so glad that you have come out with your little secret Travelmum. Since you have been so honest, I feel that I should be too! I so love spending time with people who get my crazy addiction which I have turned into a job as it is what makes me truly happy.

I began in the travel industry at 15 in a travel agency through Uni where I studied tourism. From there I worked mainly in in product development, market segmentation and strategic planning. Family and friends were always asking me to put trips together and about five years ago became fully licenced and started working from home in my free time in the evenings and on weekends in addition to my full time job BUT 2 months ago have found the perfect little shop front just up the road from my children's school. A huge leap of faith to rely on this full time but oh so good for the soul.

I am Independent and not aligned to anyone so that I can organise travel for my clients how they like it, and not have to feed the party line. It is the personal travel planner touch that works for me.

I think the secret is to find something that you love doing, like photography, or being a personal organiser, gift buyer, or find a niche that you wish existed and go from there. I love the flexibility of being just me and only answerable to me.

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Originally Posted by areweindisneyyet

I have a confession to make, I too am a Travel Planner! and come here for my own sick Disney pleasure like everyone else and not for work. I am so glad that you have come out with your little secret Travelmum. Since you have been so honest, I feel that I should be too! I so love spending time with people who get my crazy addiction which I have turned into a job as it is what makes me truly happy.

I began in the travel industry at 15 in a travel agency through Uni where I studied tourism. From there I worked mainly in in product development, market segmentation and strategic planning. Family and friends were always asking me to put trips together and about five years ago became fully licenced and started working from home in my free time in the evenings and on weekends in addition to my full time job BUT 2 months ago have found the perfect little shop front just up the road from my children's school. A huge leap of faith to rely on this full time but oh so good for the soul.

I am Independent and not aligned to anyone so that I can organise travel for my clients how they like it, and not have to feed the party line. It is the personal travel planner touch that works for me.

I think the secret is to find something that you love doing, like photography, or being a personal organiser, gift buyer, or find a niche that you wish existed and go from there. I love the flexibility of being just me and only answerable to me.

Well aren't you and Travelmum good secret keepers . I fear that this is somehow going to end badly for you girls because we are all now going to want to ask you questions .

That is great that you were able to turn your passion into your everyday job as Travelmum has also done.

I think you've given Battymum some great advice there. Turning something you love doing into your career is the best way to go about it I think. That's exactly what I did.

[Travel Mum]

Originally Posted by areweindisneyyet

I have a confession to make, I too am a Travel Planner! and come here for my own sick Disney pleasure like everyone else and not for work. I am so glad that you have come out with your little secret Travelmum. Since you have been so honest, I feel that I should be too! I so love spending time with people who get my crazy addiction which I have turned into a job as it is what makes me truly happy.

I began in the travel industry at 15 in a travel agency through Uni where I studied tourism. From there I worked mainly in in product development, market segmentation and strategic planning. Family and friends were always asking me to put trips together and about five years ago became fully licenced and started working from home in my free time in the evenings and on weekends in addition to my full time job BUT 2 months ago have found the perfect little shop front just up the road from my children's school. A huge leap of faith to rely on this full time but oh so good for the soul.

I am Independent and not aligned to anyone so that I can organise travel for my clients how they like it, and not have to feed the party line. It is the personal travel planner touch that works for me.

I think the secret is to find something that you love doing, like photography, or being a personal organiser, gift buyer, or find a niche that you wish existed and go from there. I love the flexibility of being just me and only answerable to me.

Oh AreweinDisneyyet, yippee, I am not alone!!! I always feared that, if people knew what I do, they might think I came on here to scope out info for my clients so had never mentioned it before (although Franrose knows). However I couldnt answer Battymum's question properly without spilling the beans Coming on here with clients in mind couldnt be further from the truth because, like you I'm sure, I come on here for a release from planning other people's trips and to dream about my own trips!

[areweindisneyyet]

Originally Posted by Travel Mum

Oh AreweinDisneyyet, yippee, I am not alone!!! I always feared that, if people knew what I do, they might think I came on here to scope out info for my clients so had never mentioned it before (although Franrose knows). However I couldnt answer Battymum's question properly without spilling the beans Coming on here with clients in mind couldnt be further from the truth because, like you I'm sure, I come on here for a release from planning other people's trips and to dream about my own trips!

That is exactly what I thought, you were so brave so could not let you go through it alone I totally agree, this is where I get to be Mia - The Traveler not Mia the Travel Planner

The advice I give to fellow Dis'ers is what my clients pay for so all my Disfriends get it for free from their friend.

[Andona]

Originally Posted by Ms. Shuttergirl

Ummm, Andona, when you say web design, can I have some more info on exactly what you focus on? What type of clients etc?

I mainly work with small businesses, but not in any particular industry. I've done websites for meat wholesalers, artists, professionals and retailers! I've done several for craft-related small businesses because I got my first break in that area and so picked up several more clients in the field through word-of-mouth recommendations.

Originally Posted by areweindisneyyet

I have a confession to make, I too am a Travel Planner! and come here for my own sick Disney pleasure like everyone else and not for work. I am so glad that you have come out with your little secret Travelmum. Since you have been so honest, I feel that I should be too! I so love spending time with people who get my crazy addiction which I have turned into a job as it is what makes me truly happy.

Hey, that's cool! I envy you your jobs - I have so much fun planning my own holidays to the nth degree, it must be wonderful to plan holidays for a living.

Andona

[StaciStaci]

Originally Posted by battymum

Many of you have mentioned working from home, if you don't mind sharing, can I ask what you do.
I work three days per week but wouldn't mind supplementing the income somewhat.

I enroll people into an EBook of the month club. It's all done via internet.

[battymum]

ooh, Travel mum, I knew you were up to something...

You did let a couple of hints slip, travelling to Universal Singapore, viewing the ANZ skycouch, Thailand, a couple of ships,.etc

So tell me, who pays you?

This is my general mistrust of TA's I believe that they push you toward the resort, flight whatever that gives them the biggest kick.

Although I guess there is a bunch of people out there who dont really care for all this research and intense planning.

I find its just so easy these days to do all the planning yourself.

But dont worry, I wont hold it against you!!

[Caroline NZ]

[QUOTE=Travel Mum;46521939]. Now it's a problem though because my broker work and family life leaves me hardly any time to spend on maintaining or growing the website As a result, I don't tell anyone about it anymore so don't any of you go looking for it!!!

QUOTE]

Hehe, well ofcourse we are going to go looking, wasn't hard to find

[shushh]

Travel Mum, I started thinking about being a Travel Agent because I was frustrated with how difficult it was to organise things for 5 people eg. accomodation...and the TAs that I dealt with at that time just were not helpful at all. I ended up doing all the research anyway because they did not offer any assistance in any way.

This is for both you and Areweindisneyyet, may I contact you both to ask about being a travel planner/agent/broker in detail? I am fortunate in that I don't need to generate a certain amount of income, so long as I don't make a loss my DH tells me...

[Franrose]

Originally Posted by Travel Mum

Oh AreweinDisneyyet, yippee, I am not alone!!! I always feared that, if people knew what I do, they might think I came on here to scope out info for my clients so had never mentioned it before (although Franrose knows). H

Honestly, TM, in my books it gives you extra kudos as you have insider knowledge and know how stuff "works"! I value your opinion highly.


I've never had anything but good experiences with TAs, so I don't have any issue anyway. I do book most of my own travel though purely because I am a massive CONTROL FREAK ha ha. But our last trip to Fiji was booked through a TA, she was able to save me $600 vs booking myself and it was all done online, awesome service. I love to do my homework regardless (as that's part of the fun) but also happy to save myself some money - that's what the homework is for in the first place - and use the services of someone who's got connections I don't! I'm just going for quotes for DL and WDW now and it's funny because I've already priced it up (for my own figuring out, kwim) and so the prices they're getting me are exactly what I already know, down to the cents. But they have that ability to sort discounts easier than I do, and there are a few little extras being thrown in... in some ways it's no different to booking direct with the hotel really. The other non-Disney parts of the holiday I think I'll do myself similarly to last year since that's not what they do.

[Franrose]

Originally Posted by shushh

Travel Mum, I started thinking about being a Travel Agent because I was frustrated with how difficult it was to organise things for 5 people eg. accomodation...and the TAs that I dealt with at that time just were not helpful at all. I ended up doing all the research anyway because they did not offer any assistance in any way.

Talking to many many families I know, a TA who specialised in travel for families of 5 or larger here in Aus would be run off their feet with work I reckon. It is something many have difficulty with and if you're not travel-savvy, trying to figure out options can make the whole thing too hard .

Travel with Kids is somewhere I always check out for tips/tricks TM! I didn't really think of approaching you for Castaway. Duh lol.

[Franrose]

...And hey, you've got pictures of Lekima and (?)Alisi? on your website!

[Travel Mum]

Originally Posted by battymum

ooh, Travel mum, I knew you were up to something...

You did let a couple of hints slip, travelling to Universal Singapore, viewing the ANZ skycouch, Thailand, a couple of ships,.etc

Oh Battymum, I did wonder if anyone would suspect when I started mentioning my travel experience. I didn't need to mention it but, as we all began to become online "friends" rather than just people planning their trips communicating with each other, it felt right to share more about my life. By the way, you have a good memory but I suspect it's because you and I read each other's posts with great interest

Originally Posted by battymum

So tell me, who pays you?

This is my general mistrust of TA's I believe that they push you toward the resort, flight whatever that gives them the biggest kick.

Although I guess there is a bunch of people out there who dont really care for all this research and intense planning.

I find its just so easy these days to do all the planning yourself.

But dont worry, I wont hold it against you!!

We get paid commision by the airlines (hardly anything anymore though hence have to charge a booking fee) hotels, tour companies, cruise companies etc

Probably some agents do push towards certain suppliers but I'm probably not a very financially savy one really because I quote and book the suppliers who best match my clients needs. Although the Travel Broker company that I contact to does arrange preferred supplier agreements for us, the beauty of being a broker (and I'm sure the same for Mia as an independent) is that I have free rein to book with whoever I want which, to me, means I can do the best for my client.

Remember that the nature of people joining this Aussie forum is that we are all natural born travel planners and have a passion for doing it. However, there certainly are still lots of people in the world who don't want to do it themselves whether due to lack of time, lack of interest or lack of confidence. Those are the people that I help