FamilyTravelBusiness.net
FamilyTravelBusiness.net

I wanted to let you know I booked my first cruise! It is for my friend Hope and her friend Marcie. I called Carnival and booked it over the phone and it was really easy. I sent the booking notification too. IS there anything else I need to do? I can't believe how easy that was.

~ Natalie, California

I'm so excited... I have booked my two Disney World vacations and am awaiting news back from the family planning the Disney World cruise...

~ Sonya, Pennsylvania

Our first introduction to the travel business: The idea of becoming a travel agent was first introduced to me by someone in a multi-level marketing company. I almost signed up. It was tempting. The set up was steep, but the compensation package sounded pretty good (or, so I thought at the time). One drawback was that it was a recruitment based travel business. The company needed to factor in commissions for all the people above me. Sponsoring agents, who in turn sponsored agents, who in turn sponsored me needed to get paid. There are some people who make really good money in the mlm business. They build a network of people to do what they are doing and get compensated to do so. In that travel business, the actual agent who did the work of booking the actual trip only earned 60% of the travel agent commissions. I was a little uncomfortable with that. I wanted to see the majority of the income go to the person who did the majority of the work. That's when I met "Tamara."

I'll call her, "Tamara". It was an awesome privilege to speak with Tamara. Here is the story she shared with me. "Tamara" was a relatively new travel agent. She had started with the recruitment based company about 4 months prior. After getting initially started, she invested some money into advertising her business online. That investment brought her zero return. So she thought, "there's got to be a better way." Tamara re-thought her marketing plan. She contacted some travel suppliers and ordered brochures. The brochures were shipped straight to her house free of charge. Tamara then started passing them out. She went door to door with her niece on weekends and left brochures on doorsteps. She also purchased brochure displays and asked store owners if she could leave her brochures on their courtesy tables. Within 1 1/2 months, or so, Tamara had booked her first cruise! Within 4 months she was receiving calls everyday from people interested in travel. Her business was growing. She kept her brochure displays filled. Her method of business was so unlike the other mlm travel agents I had met. Her focus was actually on booking travel! Last I heard, she was finishing up on a cruise for 400 people which was going to profit her somewhere between $20,000 to $40,000 on that one deal.

So, why didn't I sign up with the recruitment based travel business? Simple, the set up seemed high and the commissions on actual travel booked seemed low to me. I looked at several companies and discovered that many of the travel business companies out there were based on the recruitment system. I was looking for a travel opportunity which was actually about learning the travel business. I wanted a real opportunity to be a Travel Agent. That's when I discovered a way for agents to earn 80% plus of commissions!