When I look forward to the New Year, I cannot think about what I would like to accomplish at Smith Luxury Travel without taking a hard look back on 2016 and my achievements, experience toward building a successful business, and challenges so I can establish some stretch goals and specific milestones in my progress toward those objectives. Here are my 5 best experiences in 2016 for Smith Luxury Travel:
1 - CALCULATED RISKS PAY OFF
When I set out to establish my business, I knew I was taking a BIG risk – moving from a successful 25-year career in banking to an industry in which I had no practical business experience, but one that I knew well from all my years of both business and leisure travel around the world and planning that travel for my family and friends.
Brownell Travel was a critical component of my business strategy because I knew I needed to benefit from their (Brownell’s owners, management, hosting staff and advisors) 130 + years of industry experience and world-class mentoring program. The training and support I received during my mentoring year, combined with my past experience building a business franchise, are the major factors behind the incredible growth at Smith Luxury Travel over the past year, and I am now confident that it was worth the risk. While every dollar continues to be earned through extremely hard work and very long hours, I now have a client base that is comprised of repeat business, referrals and new opportunities based on word-of-mouth and my social media, newsletter and website activities.
With Colleagues in the Okavango Delta, Botswana
2 - WALK-THE-WALK SO YOU CAN TALK-THE-TALK
I know that sometimes it doesn’t look like I am working – like when I am posting photos from my educational travels – but, believe me, there is always work happening – in fact, even more work because I am managing my business while I am on those trips, sometimes at 2:00 AM because it is the only free time I have - even when I am halfway across the world. The educational travel I participate in is almost always at a frenetic pace at which I would never plan for clients. For example, when a group of Brownell Advisors went to Southern Africa this past October with Africa Inscribed, we visited 13 safari camps, hotels, villas and even a houseboat in 13 days – we did 2 game drives per day and sometimes squeezed in a site visit during our “down time” in the middle of the (blazing hot) day.We always traveled to our next destination during the day, which was very uncomfortable in the October heat (up to 120ᵒ F). I know there is probably an orchestra of the world’s smallest violins playing sympathy notes for my “hardship”, but I want to be clear that these educational trips are not “vacations”.
These experiences are so important for my professional development, relationship building and ability to recommend destinations to my clients with confidence. It makes such a difference when you’ve actually been to the destination and experienced it in a fashion that is close to how your clients would encounter (see example above for how it differs), so that I know what works and what doesn’t and how to organize and plan a trip that is orchestrated as perfectly as possible so that my clients can just sit back and relax in the moment.
The more I travel, the more I can offer the best advice to my clients – and that is what they pay me for. That person on the 1-800 line most likely has never been to any of the places they are “selling” you, which is another way an advisor adds value to your vacation.
3 - RESPECT AND KINDNESS IS APPRECIATED
One of the most important examples that I’ve learned from my colleagues at Brownell, among the 5 core principles, is graciousness and, hand-in-hand with that, respect. It is amazing that when you exhibit those core values what the response is – how what may have been a heated exchange with someone is automatically defused when you make an effort to understand that things happen, sometimes someone is having a bad day (maybe you) and how you can work together to solve a problem. Graciousness is what differentiates Brownell from other agencies and I am proud to live those values.
4 - MISTAKES HAPPEN - ADMIT TO THEM IMMEDIATELY
Everyone makes mistakes – it is a fact of life and, as much as we would love to believe we are perfect at everything we do, especially our jobs, we are not. I’ve made mistakes in my first year in business, but the key is to admit them immediately and take action to right whatever has gone wrong. Sometimes something goes wrong, regardless of how much you try to check and double-check - occasionally something falls through the cracks. I try to make those incidences as rare as possible.
Our supplier partners are not perfect, either, but I will be your advocate and work with them to fix the problem to the greatest extent possible – either through a partial refund, an extra experience, or a token of my apology delivered to your room, but I will always acknowledge it and work to make it right. That is what earns respect from clients and suppliers – doing the right thing, even when it’s hard, to the greatest extent that I can. This why I need to know as soon as possible if something is not right – when I can still do something about it!
I try to use those mistakes to learn for the future. But, I am far from perfect – I’m striving to be, though, and always have!
5 - A LOVE OF LEARNING AND A LOVE FOR TRAVEL
One of my personality traits has always been to keep learning – to become more proficient than you may already be, or seek to become proficient in something you are not (well, perhaps not things like skydiving or heli-skiing, for me). But, I also have a love and passion for travel. This combination has set me up for my second career.
I may have been to over 40 countries, so far, but that seems like nothing when you consider there are 156 that I haven’t yet been to! I may not get to all of them, but I am certainly going to try, and I am for sure going to learn about as many of them as I can during my career in travel. I love learning about other cultures, experiencing other lands and people, and, as I have many times in the last year, going outside my comfort zone and enjoying it. I love using my knowledge and experiences to help create incredible memories for my clients - there is no better feeling than when your client tells you how special their trip was - it gives me goosebumps and as long as that continues to happen on a regular basis, I know I've found the best career for me.
