Strategic Travel Entrepreneur: Business Tips for Travel Agents/Advisors, Travel Agency Owners, and Travel Business Owners

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Remembering the incomparable Will Medina, Destination Wedding Expert, Mentor, Friend, and Travel Industry Trailblazer.   Will Medina would... ·        Have Fun! ·        Build Community over Competition ·        Do it Scared ·        and so much more! Enjoy (and next time you're in a rut, think, WWWMD)! -----------------------------------------------------...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Cassandra Adams of Two Chicks Travel won the 2022 Travel Age West award for Best Targeted Marketing Idea.  Listen in on this episode to hear the dish on how she runs her agency, the marketing tactic that made her an award-winning agency, and dishing on people in the industry paying to win awards.    In this episode, we discuss: ·        Communicating with clien...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Relationships are the foundations of business success, and many relationships can start out with a coffee chat.  So what exactly is one?    In this episode, I discuss: ·        Why the purpose of coffee chats ISN'T to pitch a sale ·        What the flow of a coffee chat should look like ·        How you can set up coffee chat appointments ·        and so m...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! I've been in the travel business over 12 years now, and spilling some of the reasons why I KNOW I wasn't making money in the travel business.  Do any of these resonate for you?    In this episode, I discuss: ·        Common reasons why I see fellow travel business owners not making money in their businesses ·        Why it's important to do the b...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! About a year ago, I first presented the 4 Phases of the Travel Business in the podcast FB Group.  When I look at different types of travel entrepreneurs, there are 4 phases I commonly different advisors going through: Foundations, Rinse and Repeat, Grow, and Ascend.  Which phase of the travel business do you think you're in?    In this episode, I discuss:...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Today's incredible guest is Steph Lee, Founder of Host Agency Reviews, where she comes on to celebrate the new year with us, by introducing us to Host Week 2023.  Host Agency Reviews not only works to connect travel advisors with premier host agency options, but to also provide exceptional education through features like their Annual Host Week Event.    In...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Get my final thoughts for the year, as I start winding down on business and winding in to celebrate the holidays.    In this episode, I discuss: ·        My thoughts on what I want more of in 2023 ·        The top episode of 2022 (and some from 2021!) ·        and a few more insights! Enjoy (and take action)!   ⚓⚓Please SUBSCRIBE for more episodes:  Get the P...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Things starting to slow down or speed up this time of year for you?  As the last weeks of 2022 swiftly pass by, I've been honing in more on what I want more or less of in 2023.    In this episode, I discuss: ·        Tons of updates to help uplevel your marketing for 2023 ·        What calendars I'm using the plan for 2023 and how I'll be using t...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! It's Black Friday Week!  Listen in as I share my own offers, and offers I think you might find intriguing for your travel business :)  Enjoy--AND, if you find any other offers I should share, feel free to reach out to me to add to my list.    In this episode, I discuss: ·        Why you should discern your business goals and needs before buying offers ·   ...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! This is a pre-Prep for Wave Week Session.  On Day 5 Expansion, one of the speakers will be giving a chockful of information regarding ads, and to preface that convo there's some information you need to know regarding lead magnets--what you will be giving away for free through the ad, to acquire the email addresses of potential clients.    In this episode,...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Is everything a learning experience to you?  Because it is for me :) And that's why I had to share what I learned from working merch at my local theater and how many things relate to sales in general, and especially in our travel industry.  We are after all, selling travel, or selling our travel services.    In this episode, I discuss: ·        Confidence...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Today's incredible guest is Claire Burt Founder of Your Travel Analyst, where she is a meaningful travel coach and project specialist.  We connected over Instagram where she was gutsy enough to put herself out there and connect with travel industry podcast hosts.  Learn about our connection story in this week’s chat.    In this episode, we discuss: ·     ...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Today's incredible guest is Deanna Harris, who is a fellow travel business owner, and Founder of Xclusively Yours, where she writes content for fellow travel business owners.  She has a straightforward approach to content writing that I just admire because marketing CAN be simple.  In this episode, we discuss: Using sparkle words to uplevel your content wr...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Today's incredible guest is Alexandra Tucker, who is a fellow travel business owner, and Co-Founder of Sequense, an up and coming project management tool for fellow travel pros.  She is one of the brain children bringing to life a new tech tool that is being purpose built for travel business owners to help increase their efficiency and take back their time...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! This week's podcast was originally recorded as an impromptu live in the FB Group.  I'm being incredibly vulnerable and open about my own travel business and recent struggles of whether or not I should stay in.  *Spolier Alert* Things are turning around positively, but it took a lot of time and consistency for that to come to fruition. In this episode,...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Today's incredible guest is Jackie Roby, who is a Wellness Sales and Marketing Consultant, and Founder of Inspired Journey Consulting.  She is another travel industry disruptor, showing travel entrepreneurs both on the selling and supplying sides, the gaps between their current sales and marketing strategies for wellness travelers.  She is also a fierce ch...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! The current biggest digital marketing trend is short-form vertical video content...aka IG Reels.   (And they are so much more than just aimlessly dancing around!)  This episode gives you some of the foundational elements for what Reels are and how to use them in your marketing efforts.  To get an even bigger deep dive, make sure you register for The Reels Works...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! I'm so excited to announce the Content Creation Intensive happening next month for travel business owners!  Before we get into the specifics of that, however, it's important to understand some of the foundations of content creation, what you need to be addressing in your content, and why it's so important to be grabbing quality content while you...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Welcome to Part 2 of my incredible conversation with Christy Camren, fellow travel advisor and travel industry support partner.  She hosts the Travel Geniuses Podcast, and we have quickly become fast pals, as we both resonate with each other's travel industry perspectives.   In this episode, we discuss: Being more selective with the supplier partners we wo...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Today's wonderful guest is Christy Camren, who holds dual roles in the travel industry as both travel advisor and travel industry support partner.  She hosts the Travel Geniuses Podcast, and we have quickly become fast pals, as we both resonate with each other's travel industry perspectives.  So much so, that our conversation ran much longer than anti...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Today's incredible guest is Sahara Rose De Vore, who is a Wellness Travel Coach, and Founder of The Travel Coach Network.  She is another travel industry disruptor, showing travel entrepreneurs alternate ways to profit from their travel passion.  Not only that, but she works closely with brands to elevate their wellness experience, as well as the importanc...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! Today's wonderful guest is Dawn M. Barclay, who is a veteran of the travel industry having served previously in the travel advisor role, and currently as a contributing editor for Insider Travel Report.  Her newest book, "Traveling Different: Vacation Strategies for Parents of the Anxious, the Inflexible, and the Neurodiverse", not only helps par...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! *HEADS UP*  This episode contains some cursey words! In part 2 of this mini-series, I'm bringing on my real-life social media clients, Chefs Tony and Melissa Badeaux-Shepherd of Two Chef Mission, to pull back even more of the curtain on how we have worked together to get their business to give them a full-time income this past year. In this episode, we foc...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! For those of you that didn't know, I play dual roles in the travel industry.  I am both a travel advisor and support fellow business owners.  In today's episode, I wanted to present a real-life case study on social media clients I have been working with this past year, and how they have strategically built their business while working with me. In this...

Send Rita a text with your thoughts! As we head into the summer season, it's typically a slower season in terms of garnering new business.  Knowing this, what can we do to still stand out when many are taking both physical and mental breaks?  I'm turning to something that not many business owners are utilizing and that's the offline marketing tactic of direct mail. In this episode,...