In 2020, Anita merged the agency she built in 1992, Ticket to Travel, with KHM Travel Group, and serves as Vice President of Industry Relations. This partnership brought together two leading host agencies with like-minded business goals and matching strong core values. 

Anita has served as the Conference Director for the Travel Agent Forums. She is a charter Executive Board member and the President of PATH (Professional Association of Travel Hosts). She is the author of top-selling books and has also produced the popular CD – “Anita’s Tool Box for Home-Based Agents”. Anita is part of the Travel Institute’s Professional Educators’ Program (PEP).

To find more information about PATH at www.path4hosts.com

She has served on numerous supplier advisory boards and currently serves on ASTA’s Independent Contractor Advisory Committee.

For more than 14 years, Anita was a featured monthly columnist for Agent@Home Magazine and writes monthly articles for Travel Research Online and most recently, her articles appeared in Travel Weekly. 

Anita is the developer of the powerful database management CRM, Agent Base Connect, and co-founder of Travel Professional Academy, who, along with Ticket To Travel-Host Agency, and KHM Travel are proud TPOC supporters and partners!

1. Why a franchise vs. independent or host agency.
2. How he got his start selling travel.
3. Why it pays to quickly figure out your specialty.
4. How he became a top seller.
5. Using social media to become an expert and grow his business.
6. Learning from failure.
7. How to use co-op marketing support to grow sales.
8. Building a team to support sales efforts.
9. Three things I wish I knew...
10. What being a "Wealthy Travel Agent" means to me.

Click on the link to purchase Dan Chappelle's Amazon best selling book, Get Your S.H.I.P. Together - The Wealthy Travel Agent Guide to Sales. https://www.amazon.com/Get-Your-S-H-I-P-Together-Wealthy/dp/1523654589/

Sandra McLemore is a driving force in travel agent marketing, Her programs have helped over 12,000 travel professionals just like you.

1. Getting to know Sandra.
2. Overcoming the limiting belief of "niching down"
3. Importance of the balance of Sales and Marketing
4. The ONE Thing - A high converting, three-level marketing funnel.
5. Mistake most advisors make - 96% start at the bottom.
6. The absolute necessity of playing the "Dating Game".
7. "Content is king, consistency is queen!"
8. How of mentorship and coaching have been instrumental to her success.
9. Must listen: Three things she wishes she knew then that she knows now.
10. Sandra's vision of "The Wealthy Travel Agent"

For more information about Sandra and how she can help you, visit: https://www.travelmarketingandmedia.com/

Click on the link to purchase Dan Chappelle's Amazon best selling book, Get Your S.H.I.P. Together - The Wealthy Travel Agent Guide to Sales. https://www.amazon.com/Get-Your-S-H-I-P-Together-Wealthy/dp/1523654589/

It's a big job with a ton of reponsibility to help represent the needs travel agencies and advisers to governtment agencies and consumers.

In this episode

1. Bob's story - It's always interesting to hear how people evolve into their current roles - Bob is no exception
2. The role of ASTA- What they do for you and why you should care
3. Recent Wins: California AB-5 and The CARES Act
4. The ASTA Verified Travel Adviser Program - The industry's "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval"
5. TravelSense.Org
6. The future of ASTA and the Travel Industry
7. ASTA's COVID Resources
8. ASTA Small Business Network - New member offer
9. Three things...
10. What does being a Wealthy Travel Agent mean to you?

Links mentioned:

ASTA.org (to join and save $50 - use discount code ASTA50)

TravelSense.org

Bob@ASTA.org

#AmericanAssociationofTravelAdvisors

@American Association of Travel Advisors

Please rate and review. If you would like to be condsidered as a guest on a future episode, please reachout to: Dan@WealthyTravelAgent.com

• Belief in the value of retail locations and how the shelter at home orders have changed the way they work.
• Her affirmation that you are only as good as your team- the steps she took to keep from laying off as few as possible.
• The Perfect Storm that is COVID-19
• The value of belonging to a paid mastermind program with your peers.
• The importance of their relationship with Travel Leaders in reacting quickly to the changing business environment.
• How they will operate going forward
• How long she predicts a recovery back to pre COVID booking levels
• Current trends for 2021 and 2022
• Any regrets?
• Three things she wish she knew before becoming an agency owner.
• Lynn's definition of "The Wealthy Travel Agent."

• How a request for a hotel upgrade sparked her interest in selling travel.
• Knowing what you are worth is essential to success.
• Two clearly defined niches: Retreats for Mastermind groups and Bucket List experiences.
• Acres of Diamonds: Sources most clients locally avoiding most networking functions in favor of professional groups such as BNI, LEADS, and LeTips.
• Adopting a "Selling" Mindset - knowing failure is part of the process
• Encountering jealousy from those who do not want to see you succeed.
• Ah Ha Realization - It's my business!

Estee knows she and she alone is responsible for her success. She is willing to do what is necessary to support her goals and not take "NO" for an answer.

This is a sign of a true entrepreneur! I hope you will take away a number of things to incorporate into your own busienss.

If you enjoyed this episode, please take the time to rate and leave a comment.

She will discuss what she did to become a multi-million dollar seller

How she has coped with the effects of COVID-19 on her busienss

Her team and why they are critical to her success

Why she didn't "lose" her book of busienss, they are in a pause like the rest of us.

If you want to learn more from uber successful agents like Rebecca, please subscribe, rate and review!

As the wife of a successful college basketball coach, Courtnie moved 5 times in 9 years. She turned her passion for travel into a successful and portable busienss.

In this episode, Courtnie shares some of the keys to how she built her business - many of which are contrary to what we have come to expect.

• Why she CHANGED her niche to from Destination Weddings and Groups to Authentic Luxury.
• How by focusing on a new specialty, she is earning more money and having more fun.
• Why she charges fees.
• Why you have to treat the business as a business.
• Her plans to scale her busienss and what you can learn from it.
• Where she failed and what she learned.

If you would like to be interviewed on the Wealthy Travel Agent Podcast. please send your request to dan@wealthytravelagent.com and tell me why you consider your business a success and how fellow travel pros will benefit from your message.

You will hear how she, like many of you are juggling her duties while we shelter at home as a mom, entrepreneur, and now homeschool teacher.

GTN, a member of Virtuoso, is known for their positive focus on mindset and manifestation to create success (think the book and movie, The Secret).

They have a reputation for having some of the most engaged IC's in the industry. In my experience, engaged usually means productive which creates a "win /win" environment for everyone.

Please note: No advertising or promotional fees are offered or requested from any podcast guests at this time.

Thank you for contacting Travelling the C’s for your next bespoke experience, please note you will only receive this email once per day.

We wanted to thank you for your patience while we navigate the quickly changing COVID19 situation. Being the planners that we are (Type A alllll the way) we have an action plan to ensure our clients are getting the best service. While we always offer 24 hour emergency support, we are requesting that clients text or email in as wait times for suppliers are long and losing a hold because we are on another call is devastating.

To give some perspective, wait times are upwards of 7 hours if you’re lucky enough to get on one- and it took me two hours of non stop dialing to get on queue with Westjet this morning.

Phase 1: Assisting those travellers departing in the next 2 weeks (up to and including March 31, 2020).

Phase 2: Assisting those travelling before April 30, 2020.

Phase 3: Assisting those impacted by any travel bans travelling after May 1, 2020.

Phase 4: Assisting those impacted travelling after May 1, 2020 with no travel bans in place.

 Our office is open Tuesday- Thursday 11:00am- 8:00pm and Friday- Saturday 11:00am- 5:00pm. This email is not monitored outside of business hours.

 In the event of an emergency please contact Chantelle Bielak directly at (780)- 239- 0700 for our 24 emergency on call service.***

Talk to your clients - all of them

Call your prospects

Reinvent your business

Be prepared for the comeback

Today we have Eric gold ring from Goldring travel in Truckee, California. And so we want to welcome him. He has a great story to tell. It started his career as an attorney and has become a very ultra successful travel professional. So welcome. Eric. Welcome to the show. Well, thank you. It's nice to be here. So tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got, you know, I mean, that's a big transition going from a practicing law and to helping people have a fantastic vacations. How did you fall into that? Well, I actually started as a Marine biologist. Wow. And I loved that,

Eric Goldring (00:54):

But I was starving. So my boss at the national Marine fishery service said, why don't you become an environmental lawyer? So I was able to combine my Marine biology and the law and became an environmental lawyer. Now while I was in law school and the struggling young lawyer, I dated somebody who was an interior designer and her firm was tasked with doing some of the interiors on Royal Caribbean second ship, the song of America. So my first cruise was on the song of Norway and I loved it and it was free. So that was even better.

Eric Goldring (01:31):

Anyway, so from there, that was sort of my cruise introduction and then it went away and now I'm a environmental lawyer and somebody came in with a problem with a very large job into the law firm and nobody knew anything about it. And they were okay. Eric fish, water boats, it's all the same thing. You've got the case. So I wound up at the age of 23 before the U S court of appeals, arguing some very technical maritime things and I want that now. Made me a yacht Maven. And I was in the superyacht industry, which is luxury travel in a way. I mean it's buying, selling, chartering, all that. So I was involved with charters like Oprah, Rupert Murdoch, rock and roll people, Russian oligarchs. And I had to, I learned how to deliver a luxury product. The downside of all of that was it was exhausting, stressful.

Eric Goldring (02:28):

Nobody was ever satisfied and you made money, but you spend a lot of money trying to find happiness and that's not a healthy. So I eventually got my ex wife to agree to go on a cruise and my first family cruise was on the big red boat premier crew. Remember that? Right. And it was falling apart and it was a disaster. But I went to one of the big cruise agencies and I said, give me the best suite on a ship. Well, they gave me the suite and]]>Dan Chappelle (00:00):

Today we have Eric gold ring from Goldring travel in Truckee, California. And so we want to welcome him. He has a great story to tell. It started his career as an attorney and has become a very ultra successful travel professional. So welcome. Eric. Welcome to the show. Well, thank you. It's nice to be here. So tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got, you know, I mean, that's a big transition going from a practicing law and to helping people have a fantastic vacations. How did you fall into that? Well, I actually started as a Marine biologist. Wow. And I loved that,

Eric Goldring (00:54):

But I was starving. So my boss at the national Marine fishery service said, why don't you become an environmental lawyer? So I was able to combine my Marine biology and the law and became an environmental lawyer. Now while I was in law school and the struggling young lawyer, I dated somebody who was an interior designer and her firm was tasked with doing some of the interiors on Royal Caribbean second ship, the song of America. So my first cruise was on the song of Norway and I loved it and it was free. So that was even better.

Eric Goldring (01:31):

Anyway, so from there, that was sort of my cruise introduction and then it went away and now I'm a environmental lawyer and somebody came in with a problem with a very large job into the law firm and nobody knew anything about it. And they were okay. Eric fish, water boats, it's all the same thing. You've got the case. So I wound up at the age of 23 before the U S court of appeals, arguing some very technical maritime things and I want that now. Made me a yacht Maven. And I was in the superyacht industry, which is luxury travel in a way. I mean it's buying, selling, chartering, all that. So I was involved with charters like Oprah, Rupert Murdoch, rock and roll people, Russian oligarchs. And I had to, I learned how to deliver a luxury product. The downside of all of that was it was exhausting, stressful.

Eric Goldring (02:28):

Nobody was ever satisfied and you made money, but you spend a lot of money trying to find happiness and that's not a healthy. So I eventually got my ex wife to agree to go on a cruise and my first family cruise was on the big red boat premier crew. Remember that? Right. And it was falling apart and it was a disaster. But I went to one of the big cruise agencies and I said, give me the best suite on a ship. Well, they gave me the suite and then I looked at the deck plans because I could do that from my background. I was like, well, what about the owner's suite? And they were like, well, you have a family. I go, yeah, but how much is the owner suite? They go, well, it's $25 more, but there's a $200 change. And that kind of set me off. I got the owner's suite. There were other things they told me that wasn't true because they just didn't know. Right. So I complained, I want to do a second cruise. Same thing happened. So while I'm this big superyacht lawyer, I'm speaking to the supervisor at this large agency with tons of outside agents. And she said, you know, more than my agents do. So I said give me a job.

Eric Goldring (03:44):

And so I wound up being an outside agent for one of these big agencies. And then eventually, you know, you're just selling to friends and whatever and trying to figure it out. But eventually I was like, why do I need them? What are they giving me? They're really not. And at the same time I was involved with cruise critic posting things and people were saying things that weren't true and I knew they weren't true because they couldn't be, this is my lawyer mind working or having been on cruises. And then in, you know, the travel business to a degree is dealing with yachts. And eventually I got banned from cruise critic cause I was calling people out and my daughter then told me about a thing called a blog and you could write what you thought. So I would go to cruise critics, see what people were saying, you giving me ideas for stories and I would write the stories and then I got a following as I get the falling, my travel business started to increase.

Eric Goldring (04:41):

So I went from being a lawyer and a travel agent to being a lawyer and a travel agent to becoming a travel agent. Yeah. And the big change came in 2008 when the markets crash, the wealthy people started having to change their ideas about yachts and travel and things like that. But they still wanted to travel and that's where the luxury cruise market came in because you could travel for $10,000 instead of $200,000 I think you bring up a good point right here is that regardless of what the economy is doing, they still want to travel. Absolutely. Because that's the most important thing they have is time. They need their time, no matter how bad businesses, the stock market, whatever, they have to get away, they need to refresh, they need to be taken care of as opposed to them taking care of everything. Right?

Eric Goldring (05:39):

So it was built in. So now what happened? Sort of around the same time, I was like, if I continue as this lawyer, I'm going to die. I'm 40 pounds heavier than I am now. I'm stressed out. I got psoriatic arthritis popping up, all kinds of health things and I just needed to change. So I took the leap and said, I can make this app. And you know, when you start your, you know, the cash flow wasn't quite what you'd think it's going to be, but you kind of make it new scratch and glow and then eventually it builds up. Right. And you know, then I was able to say, you know, this is really a lifestyle difference. So I got through my divorce, both kids are in college and I moved out to what used to be my vacation home, which is now my home and Lake Tahoe in Truckee, California.

Eric Goldring (06:34):

So, you know, now I have a situation where I tell people when I'm away, well, when I'm done with this journey, I go home to your vacation. And it's really true. So you know, when you become efficient with your time and you know your product and you don't let things back up on you, you wind up with a lot of free time. So you're able to go hiking or skiing or just taking a walk by the river and it makes a big difference as to how you approach your clients. So one of the things, and you mentioned this earlier about how you were banned from cruise critic, you are on the is your honest and candid and sometimes really scathing reviews and commentary and rebukes of people. How has that helped your business? Well, the most important thing is to be genuine and honest.

Eric Goldring (07:21):

As a lawyer I would tell people you're paying me to win, not to win mr congeniality. And you know, it's a little different in the travel business or you know, other non combative businesses. But you know, people don't want to hear that everything's wonderful when it's not. And if something isn't right, you'll want it to be improved. So, you know, if I go on a cruise ship, every ship I go on, I order a hamburger and a hotdog. Because if they can do the simple things that can do the more complex that tells you what the training is, it tells you what the ingredients are. It tells you what the delivery is, you know, how's it all work? When I get a hamburger that's overcooked with two bottom buns and there's a squeeze bottle of ketchup and manager's been out in the sun for, I don't know how long that tells me something.

Eric Goldring (08:20):

When I order two hotdogs, I get two hotdogs on one bun that tells himself when it's delivered perfectly. And I got crisp hot French fries as opposed to ice cold ones. It tells me something. So, you know, it's important to be real about it. And if somebody says, you know, they're the most luxurious cruise line in the world, I didn't set that standard. They did. Right. And don't you want to know if they're delivering it or not? And related to that, I find that the most luxurious anything to be a red flag because every client, every person, every guest has a different definition of luxury. I agree. Yeah. And so you got to set your bar as a travel professional the same way you expect the cruise line or tour operators set a bar that's achievable. There's fluff and marketing and then there's the reality, right?

Eric Goldring (09:25):

So when I give a very positive or a marginal or scathing review, my clients know they may not agree with it, but they know I'm being honest and I'm giving the backup for it. I don't say that was the worst cruise I ever took. Those were the best eggs ever had I explained why. Yeah. That's why I love reading your blog because it gives you always backup to whether it's a positive, negative. And you know, having been with one of the suppliers that was on the receiving end of one of those reviews, I can tell you it made a big difference. It was addressed immediately because I believe that was the hot dog, if I remember correctly. That was, that was fixed quickly because it is, it's the simple things, a little things when it comes to delivering the service. And I guess the lesson out of this is make sure that one, everyone knows you, you understand what your client's definition of luxury is.

Eric Goldring (10:27):

It could be carnival, you know, it could be Seabourn, it could be, it depends on, you know, who you're talking to, but making sure, and I think everyone should do what you do is go and see if they do the little things right when you are on board and experience it as a guest so you'll know exactly how your clients are going to be able to experience onboard. Right. And that's one thing, by the way, that it's sort of a sore point with me. I do not like FAMs fans are a great way to go see hardware, but it's not a great way to see product. Yeah. Because they're catering to you different. The mindset is, what am I getting for my free? You're a highly discounted trip as opposed to being able to sit back and observe guests and see how they're interacting and see how things interact with you.

Eric Goldring (11:14):

So when you're the travel, a general professional that's being catered to, you're going to get the best seating, you're going to get the best waiters, you're gonna get the best bartenders, they're going to make sure you're happy. But I've been on cruises where they're two really good bar waiters and they're running all over the place, making everything happen because the other six aren't that good. Yeah, well I'm glad I'm getting great service, but what about everybody else? So those things are really important to put yourself in a position where you can observe things. And you know, I travel a lot, but I travel a lot because it, you know, besides the obvious benefits of that, it makes me an authority and a lets me tell the clients specifically from my personal experience or watch out for this. And then you can figure out when you talk to your launch what matters to them because they may not care about the bath amenities not being that great. Right. I always bring my own so it doesn't matter other people, that's a big thing. How dare they do that. So you never know what someone's trigger point is.

Dan Chappelle (12:24):

Yeah. So that's a great segue into you know, obviously you have a niche in the industry. Do you have a specialty? You're considered an expert in authority. What is your niche and how did you come into that and make it your own?

Eric Goldring (12:38):

Well, my niece really is what is your luxury? It's not the most expensive. It's not the fanciest, it's what makes people feel warm and fuzzy. You know, I have the ability with the Marine biology background to be able to sell high end expedition trips. Yeah. I also with the Outback room able to sell high end cruises and, and land tours. But I look at it and go, I would rather spend my time on one person and earn a $4,000 commission. Cause these are people that tend to have experience. And know what they want. You're more managing their situation then for the same gross revenue have to deal with 20 people that really don't know what they want. They're going to be much more high demand because they don't know what they want. They have perceptions and you've got to work through each one's perceptions to get them to a reality. So I've developed with my background, the ability to kind of stay at that higher level, which gives me more time to really personally serve each client, to give them their luxury, whatever that may be.

Dan Chappelle (13:58):

And I'm sure you've probably experienced this as well, but I certainly have that a, the luxury client is so much easier to work with typically because they do have realistic expectations and they've traveled and they, they know what they're paying for. They expect to have a Seabourn cruise at a certain price versus, you know, it's not a $5,000 trip, it's a $50,000 trip and they get that. So that's one thing I always found that was great about working with them. So along that lines, we get paid to sell. So let's talk about, you know, what do you do to attract customers? And obviously you have your blog, you have other things that are going on, but what is it that you do to maintain and get your business to where it is today?

Eric Goldring (14:41):

Well, it's sort of a multipronged attack and probably ensemble travel group is a great way to kind of start that cause that that's my base. And with ensemble, you pay your fees and you get a website and you can really...]]>af16d1db-96af-42f7-aa97-12b0edcd03ddThu, 05 Mar 2020 03:30:00 -070029:52truefull13131Dan ChappelleLisa Sheldon - Making Money with Destination Weddings and Honeymoons

After being laid off from his corporate job, he went full time selling travel. His approach to the business is inspiring. You will hear him describe the many mistakes he made along the way to get it right.

We have a great conversation that includes:

• Overcoming "Imposter Syndrome" as a new adviser.
• Getting over the fear and intimidate by providing a solution to a problem.
• Even with this nich there are a number of revenue opportunities.
• The importance of networking and using social media for engagement and lead generation.
• Systems and process for growth, operating efficiencies, engagement, and prospecting.
• Why specialization and strategic partnerships are key drivers to sales success.

Please share with other advisers you may know and to learn more about how The Wealthy Travel Agent Academy can help you grow your business, visit www.danchappelle.com