Travel Agency in a Year

Patagonia, Dove, and Airbnb didn't win with bigger budgets. They won with better stories. Rachel K breaks down what makes their campaigns work and gives you a simple, no-budget-required checklist for spotting story-worthy moments in your own week on Day 192 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast.

Facts get scrolled past. Stories get remembered. In this episode of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast, Rachel K digs into the psychology of why storytelling sticks, plus how brands like Coca-Cola, Nike, and Airbnb have built decades of marketing around feeling instead of features, and what that means for how you talk about your trips.

Strategy only works if you actually use it. Rachel K closes out the week with a reframe on the mid-year wall, why momentum beats motivation, and one exercise to carry everything from this week into the next ninety days.

Response times, hours per booking, repeat client rate, these are the numbers that quietly determine whether your travel business can scale. Today's episode of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast is about catching problems while they're still small.

You can't improve what you don't measure. Day 188 of the Travel Agency in a Year Podcast covers the handful of marketing and finance metrics every travel advisor should track monthly and why lead source might be the single most valuable data point in your business.

The proposal isn't the finish line. Today's episode of the Travel Agency in a Year covers how to reduce decision friction, handle the dreaded "let me think about it," and turn more proposals into actual bookings.

Most advisors don't have a marketing problem, they have a follow-through problem. This episode of travel Agency in a Year lays out a simple five-stage pipeline system so no lead ever quietly disappears again.

Outreach doesn't have to feel scary or salesy. Learn the difference between warm and cold outreach for travel advisors, why the follow-up matters more than the first message, and how to reconnect with past clients without sounding like a pitch.

No more forty-five minutes rehearsing a fifteen-second video. Today's episode of travel Agency in a Year covers how to use short-form, long-form, and written content together. Plus, the repurposing trick that turns one piece of content into a week's worth of posts. Get your content batching systems in place, so you have time to serve all these new trip requests coming into your pipeline!

Six months in, and it's time to stop marketing on vibes. This episode breaks down how to build a realistic quarterly marketing plan — including why your email newsletter might be the most underrated tool in your business.

It's day 182 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast, and it's time to reSET the scoreboard to zero. Whether the first half of the year was a boom or a bust, let's start fresh for the next quarter. New to the podcast and missed the past episodes on the quarterly review? Rachel K goes over the importance of not shirking through the 'summer slump', how to do a quick mid-year milestone check-in on you...

LAST DAY OF THE SECOND QUARTER. And, something Rachel K hears about A TON with her Group Travel Made Easy students is, "How can I land a corporate client/retreat client?" For day 181 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast, Rachel K breaks down a simple framework that she uses for her past retreats, corporate & even parish fundraisers.

Day 180! Not quite halfway, though it's pretty close. Rachel K reminds you of the quarterly review, quick overview, and possible things you're implementing in your travel agency this quarter. Comment any new strategies, insights or boundaries you're going to use going into the last half of the year.

It's almost time for a new quarter, and while you may have been simply reviewing the numbers of your business, let's do a quick audit of your own growth as a business owner. Day 179 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast is all about seeing where you are compared to where you've been in terms of your confidence as a travel CEO.

Stuck on a two-hour hold with a supplier, drowning in spreadsheets, and wondering why you left your stable job to start an independent travel agency? When the heavy weight of administrative chores builds up, it is easy to lose sight of the magic of travel curation. In Day 178 of Travel Agency in a Year , we step back from the paperwork to rescue you from operational burnout and reignite your passi...

It's your peak travel season - you have 4 families all departing the same day to different destinations. And of course, storms are flying across the Midwest, disrupting their plans and your day. Or, maybe everyone arrives safely, but you get a phone call from a client asking for help regarding their room, because concierge is doing zilch. Maybe the room category doesn't match from travel docs to t...

On Day 176 of our journey through the Travel Agency in a Year podcast, host Rachel K tackles this phenomenon of client ghosting head-on. She pulls back the curtain on consumer psychology to explain why client silence is almost never a critique of your talent, and shares a practical strategy to completely detach your personal worth from a lead's "no." In this episode, you’ll discover: The Personal...

It’s 11:30 PM on a Tuesday, your family is asleep, and you are sitting alone at your desk illuminated only by the glow of your laptop screen. You have forty-seven different tabs open. You're pouring over reviews, FB group posts, anything to help you "decide" which of the 5 identical resorts you're going to offer your client in the first proposal. Your eyes are bloodshot, your brain is fried, and y...

For Day 174 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast, we're going to address more than the common industry advice, "Don't book based on your wallet." Rachel K provides examples of how this doesn't apply to pretty much any other type of sales position, breaks down the psychology behind why you're thinking you should spend an extra 6 hours researching hotels that will save your client a whopping 2% of...

Day 173 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast features none other than Rachel K spitting facts on why so many TAs get stuck with the idea that if something isn't working, they need to pivot niches, marketing platforms, softwares, anything else. You think the reason your business is slow is because of one of these things, it's not. Maybe you're just a little tired. Maybe you're busy with family, l...

Day 172 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. And no, Rachel K isn't saying you need to cuss, or act like your personal beliefs and opinions reign supreme over everyone else as "bad boss babe." Please, leave 2015 and join us on the edge of a new decade. Being "Good" as a travel advisor keeps so many stuck because you are the artisan, not the architect. You are very good at your craft, no shade t...

Day 171 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast. Maybe you've been feeling in a slump, looking back at this quarter's numbers. The January rush is gone - both WAVE season & your momentum. And you're exhausted, feeling like you're getting nowhere. Let's get back your motivation to power through this slump with a realistic goal you can achieve in just 2 weeks.

On Day 170 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast, Rachel K talks about your 'vacation' when you are still in hustle-mode. Yes, you can make multiple 6-figures, still feel like you're working on vacation, and it's not something to brag about. It's a 'Hero' mindset coupled with control issues. So today, we're talking about the anxiety and ego battles behind this, "I have to just do it myself" menta...

It's Day 169 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast, which means we are nearing the mid-year mark. Hopefully, your travel agency is bringing somewhat steady money in - whether more immediate or commission earned next year. This episode is for you TAs struggling to breakthrough to the next level...and it might be your repeat clients that put up that ceiling. Sometimes, you have to fire perfectly 'g...

On Day 168 of the Travel Agency in a Year podcast, Rachel K discusses the psychological crisis that happens when a TA has been working juuust long enough, things get easy. Quiet. A little too quiet. What else to do but slave away with "tweaking" your proposals & workflows? Get more clients. Take a break. Just because you may be able to now earn $400.00 in maybe an hour of work DOESN'T mean you...