Greetings Groupies! Happy Friday.
It's been a little bit since I've been in here. Not much DIS time in the past couple of weeks. Belated birthday greetings, glad to hear about new jobs, cruisers arriving home safely, and prayers for those who need it.
We're hanging in there - what with the new business, a 16 yr old learning to drive, lots of Scouting stuff going on (it's that season once again... Summer Camp prep is in full swing!), I've been working on a book about the domestic Disney resorts, and and, and. Things are coming along with the business, though $ is getting a little tighter right now. The severance package $ is gone as of this month, as we move into living off of savings while the business continues to pick up. Our first cruise clients departed this month which is a good thing because that's when the $ comes in, well, it comes in after they get home, but the departure actually triggers the commission payment. I sold that cruise in December, and have numerous other things booked for the rest of the year - into 2013 actually, but yes, no money flows until after departure. We knew going into this that it would take 12-18 months to really be a viable entity. If everything continues the way it has been going, it's looking like the 12 mos vs. the 18... but we'll see. I have several clients now who will be going to various destinations around the globe. The website traffic has been increasing steadily, and the FB fan count continues to grow. I'm trying to use social media as much as I can to continue to build an audience and potential client pool. And quotes are steadily going out... but of course quotes aren't actual business... the more important thing is the conversion to a booking rate, which also continues to increase. I was averaging 1 booking a week before, I'm now up to 2.4 per week, which ideally I want to see at 5 or 6 per week (it really depends on the type of booking. Disney remains my biggest seller, but Disney parks pay just about the lowest commissions vs.
DCL, but other cruise lines beat out DCL too). I'm working hard to build up some Group business, as well as student & religious travel. I have access to some excellent providers for both. The referrals are coming in now too, even from those who are yet to travel. It's fun to see how much you really don't need a brick & mortar existence in my business these days, as I have customers in 9 different states in addition to my own state.
I'm one of 4 sponsors of a local fashion show this weekend, and everyone involved is excited to see what kind of interest it might generate. It's an annual show in it's 15th year this year, and the last 2 years they had, apparently, some 500 women there. I'll be happy if 10-15 show an interest (more would be better of course) but we'll see. More and more people in my neck of the woods are talking about going on vacations again - something many haven't done in 2-3 years. I'm having fun. A lot of fun. Plus I get to learn a lot about the world we live in, and can't wait to experience many of these destinations for myself in the years to come. History and geography were always favorites of mine in school, but as a youth my family never really traveled much beyond the western US, Hawaii, Mexico or western Canada (we were very much "go to the same cabin every year" kind of people). As an adult my DW and I have traveled all over the US, and of course I've done even more solo through job responsibilities. There are some really cool places that I have added to my bucket list that I never really considered before. I never really would have thought about cruising down the Danube before... or visiting St. Petersburg... or Peru... or Cambodia... or the Yangtze River. But I definitely want to now!
But with all of the fun, I do have one really big frustration - but one that is such a commonality for others who are in business for themselves - and that is the apparent lack of common courtesy that so many people display these days. It's sad really. What is it you ask? The basic concept of saying "thanks, but no thanks" or "we just can't afford that now" after providing someone with a quote that they just don't like for one reason or another. I don't mind the no, I can take it, I can understand it especially if it's a budgetary concern - it happens in ANY business. It's the blatant disregard for the time invested in getting them that quote in the first place. I've now had 5 different people come to me asking for a personalized quote either responding to one of my featured offers on Facebook - or just because they were asking about a destination. Then after I've provided them with a detailed quote, they just just kind of disappeared, ignoring my follow-up phone calls or emails to see if they had any questions or concerns. Not having ever specifically been in sales before (sure my old job impacted sales for the company, but I wasn't an actual "salesman"), I'm still trying to monitor and gauge how often to follow-up without being overly pushy... (I certainly don't want to be classified like the stereotypical used car sales person or something similar) but my mother definitely taught me that whenever I didn't like an offer presented to me, to politely refuse and say why not. Oh well, rant over, I just have to recognize that it comes with the territory and move on, but it is very frustrating.
Things are picking up.
I hope you are all doing well. I'm looking forward to seeing a Di & Dad, Maria and now even Joy in a few weeks!
For those of you who sent me PM's with dates - I'll take care of those this weekend!
Ciao for now.
I'm so glad I could inspire you to take a solo trip. As I said it takes a bit to adjust but embrace all your new found freedom & have a wonderful time!
Too bad. I was really beginning to get psyched!
Muush and Trish in the new 'vette
