You're listening to Travel
Agent Chatter, Volume 29. Travel Agent Chatter is an audio series
produced by the team here at Host Agency Reviews each and every quarter. Mio Mai, as always, our guests
on TAC never cease to amaze me. Today's guest is a former professional
fundraiser who put those skills to work and went from travel being a part time
job in 2017 to full time in June of 2019. But here's the thing to know. Even with 2. 5 million in sales, that's not
the metric that our guest watches. Th
is travel agent has niched down
into groups, both destination weddings and celebration groups,
and they have a minimum of 10 rooms. And an average spend of 500
to 1000 per guest per day. Now, the metric that she does watch
is the steady income stream that comes from her group booking fee of 5000
per group and the 18 clients that are in her VIP club where there is a 6500
a year annual retainer that has a minimum annual travel spend of 50, 000. And that does not include air spend. For today's gues
t, Commission
is just icing on the cake. And she is a study in crafting the
business of your dreams by thinking about what you want out of life and
then reverse engineering your business to fit the lifestyle that you want. She only books one
destination wedding a month. She takes most of Friday off
and then focuses on self care. She lays out very clearly which
clients she wants to work with, which ones she doesn't, and sticks to it. And December forget about it. She and her team take the
entire
month of December off. So come along for an inspirational
journey with a travel advisor who isn't afraid to do things differently. And by doing so has found the work life
balance that others dream of, and a steady income stream that no pandemic
or natural disaster can wreak havoc on. Without further ado,
let's get onto the show. Howdy y'all. This is Steph Lee, the founder of Host
Agency Reviews, coming at you from Texas, where I am in my final weeks of
snowboarding before heading back to grand o
ld Minnesota, where it's nice and cold. As always for today, we have a ton of
information and tips for you to help you build an agency that works for you
specifically for you and your lifestyle. And today we have Courtnie Nichols. She's the founder of Travel Bash, and
you are about to get hit with some really new ways of thinking about your agency,
both in what you do and how you do it. Now she took about her first
solo trip when she was 10 years old and has not stopped since. You're going to he
ar about how content
marketing has been central to the success of her company and whether it's through
her blog or through her sales copy on her site, Courtnie has really thought it
all through and we'll talk about that. And she'll also share her hiring process
and how her vetting process has led to great fits who really stick with the
company And why she doesn't mess around with wedding wire and the knot, even
though she specializes in destination weddings and how our booking process
sets her a
nd her clients up for success. And we are also going to find out
about her secret as to how she has 17 as of now, podcast interviews. Soon to be 18 and then 13 mentions
of her company, including from the Oprah magazine and Southern living. And that my friends is just
scratching the surface today. A quick note before we jump in. So our annual survey that we do at
HAR is coming up in just a few weeks. It opens every year. This is, it opens up on April 15th right
after taxes come in and are finishe
d. And we want you to join the fun. So you can head over to HAR, H A R
dot news slash survey to sign up for reminders and get for more information. We'll also put that
link in the show notes. Now, some of you may be asking,
why should I take a survey? And if you're asking, you're very much
like me because I would be a person that's like, why would I take this survey? And here's why it's beneficial
for you to take our survey. You get one of the free reports
when they are published in the fall. Th
ey are 70 pages chock full of
information on industry data that you can use to build a better business,
to benchmark your agency, to get different ideas and to get a better
feel for the industry as a whole. So about five minutes of your time,
and then you get an in depth report worth a couple hundred dollars. So it's not too shabby. All right, links and
resources for today's show. Anything we talk about can be found in
the show notes, which you can find by going to Host Agency Reviews.com/tac
an
d clicking on episode 29. And here's our map for today's call. We are gonna be covering a
variety of topics in each segment, and here's what they are. We'll talk about Courtnie's beginnings. We'll then jump into her
marketing operations and fees. Her team. Some of the wisdom she's learned over
the past few years, and then we'll end up with our indispensable segment. And there is a lot to talk about today. And a lot, so let's get started. Courtnie, welcome to Travel Agent Chatter. Yes. Thank you.
Thank you for having me. Oh, it is such a pleasure to have you on. I really mean, we have a
lot to talk about today. This is my 29th. Episode of travel agent chatter. And when I was going through all their
notes and I was like, there are so much. I had to cut stuff, Courtnie. I, and I was hard. It was hard. I was like, I think this is
going to be about an hour and a half, but it's all so good. And I'm like, I don't think
I can go longer than that. So let's get started. You took your first trip.
When you were 10 years old and
then every summer after that. So how in the world were you traveling
by yourself as a 10 year old? I moved from a small town in Tennessee
of 3, 600 people to huge city, St. Louis. That's where I actually sat. I grew up, born in
Tennessee, grew up in St. Louis. And so my dad was like, I'm not
driving you down to your girlfriend. You gotta get on a flight. So that's how it all started. It was like, if you want to see your
family you better find a way to get there. S
o I was on that first solo flight
at 10, going to grandma's house, even connecting, going from St. Louis, connecting Nashville to
then the Tri Cities Airport. So it wasn't even a direct flight. He was like, you can do it. You got it. And from there, yeah. I have this really adorable
picture of you In my head. Is there a picture of you? I suppose you're traveling by yourself,
so probably not, but there's there a picture of you like at 10 at the airport, I didn't have a cell phone. I don't think p
eople use cell phones. Then I'm not that old, but I didn't
get a cell phone till almost college. Like I was. A senior, a junior in high school,
and I had that Nokia flip phone. So back then, like you didn't just
get footage of people doing things. I know. I just think it would be so cute. Like a little back, a little
and picture, maybe a little luggage. That height. I was almost the same height at 10. So like you had this tall six foot
yeah, skinny little twig, like who is, I probably looked old
er than
10, so they're like, oh, it's fine. Yeah. Let her go off by herself. She'll be just fine. . Yeah. So you've traveled a ton, but there is
a difference between liking to travel and planning trip for others, as we all
know, so how did you make this switch from your professional fundraiser that
loves to travel, and then you became a travel advisor, how'd that come about? For, Those of you who don't know who I am,
I always preface or I always talk about my husband, not because he's important
like me, but because he's the reason how I got into the travel industry. So I'm a college basketball coach's wife. And so for those of you that know the
lifestyle, it's like military and like I've moved now eight times in 16 years. So when we moved to Florida in
2015, at that time, we had moved. Six times by the time floor six or seven. Yeah, because this we've moved now. I live in Virginia now. So we moved from Florida to
Virginia and that's the eighth move. And so every year I had moved and
co
ntrary to what people believe is just because your husband, the
coach, they don't get you a job. They don't really help you with anything. So every year I was finding a new job. The good news was I was
good at fundraising. So when you can fundraise that
sales, you can always find a job. But I was like, I need to
find something that I can do. If he tells me we're moving to
Antarctica, this is my baby. This is my own. Like I don't have to worry about anything. And so I had gotten to the point in m
y
career fundraising in order to move up, I was going to have to manage a team
or they wanted someone who was going to put roots down or going to stay. You can't build a program or leave. We're at Florida. That's where I used to work. University of Florida. We're in a 50. 50. Three billion campaign in my department
of two was responsible for 50 million. And I was bored and I was like,
I can do this in my sleep. And I've got to find something that
my husband comes in here tomorrow and says, we're
moving here that it doesn't
stop the flow of what I was doing. So at that time I my travel advisor,
she had been, she had talked to me before about you should be a
travel advisor and I'm a millennial. So I'm like, who uses them? Why do I need it? It doesn't make sense. She was like, no,
Courtnie, you'd be great. You have the network. Obviously I moved. So I know a bunch of different people. I lived overseas also had a
destination where she was like, I think you would be great. So I said, okay,
I'm
going to give it a stab. I gave myself a year. I'm like, if I, in the one year don't
make this, I'm back to fundraising. There's no way cause I didn't want
to give up a job to go work a job that then I wouldn't get paid to
do yeah, it didn't make sense. So I leaped in. Yeah, that's all. That's amazing. So after a year, it sounds
like it worked out for you. Cause now that was 2017, right? 2017. And I went full time, quit my job,
which people say, Courtnie, she quit like three times as you can
bet. But June, 2018, I'll never forget
a year and a half into my business. I said, bye sayonara. And yeah, that's awesome. So we got into the base. We built the base on
how you got into travel. Let's move into our next
segment, which is the marketing. And I want to start with the core of
your business, which is your website. And I love your website. It's well, as I told you before,
it's fabulous for creepy podcast hosts who want to stop you. There was a lot of information on there. So let me th
row out some stats for
those of you that are tuning in. So 86 percent of traffic from
Courtnie's site is organic. And for those that don't know,
that means like essentially someone that's typing into search. Like Google they might take destination
weddings, like a timeline or something like that, then her site is going
to pull up in those search results. And she does a fantastic job of SEO. That's also we, how we run our business
here at heart and the media kit. On Courtnie's site states that
th
ere's around a hundred thousand, no, not a hundred thousand, 10,
000 unique visitors a month. And that's a lot of content that
you get from marketing on your blog. So talk to us about your
content marketing strategy. Things like how often do
you update and write blogs? Do you hire it out? What are some tips for people that want
this to be the core of their business? So when I started my business,
when I still had my day job, the first thing Okay. So again, I use my fundraising ties. I fundraise
for a program, the
matching Florida opportunity scholars. And so they were first
generation college students. I was in California going to meet
Google about that stuff for money. But while I was there one of the
students that was the recipient of this scholarship, I went and met because,
we're trying to get these fields that are like, what are you doing now? Now that you got this money, like you're
the CEO of this, so I'm talking to her. And her boyfriend at the time. They're actually, I'm going
to their wedding in June. Was he was in content marketing and not
only content marketing, digital marketing strategy, et cetera, and all of this. And I didn't have, so before 2017, I
did not have social media presence. I didn't have a Facebook. I didn't have an Instagram. The only thing I had
was the LinkedIn page. So I had, I was off the grid on purpose
and I didn't do any blogging all that. So I met his name is Kevin. He still works with me to this day. He lives out in California. Shout out t
o Kevin. He was like, we need to
focus on creating content. And I'm like, so what does that even mean? He's Courtnie. So my focus was on destination weddings. I want to do groups, destination wedding. I'm like, Hey, we need to
get more bang for your buck. Instead of doing individual trips,
I can make this amount of money. So I focused on destination weddings. I was a destination wedding bride. So we literally looked at what
questions did I have when I was. Planning my destination wedding or deci
de
I want to have a destination wedding. So literally I answered that question. Obviously I put myself in that seat
of what is a destination wedding? Like how much does it cost? What are all the places you can go? What's an all inclusive? So literally all the questions
that I actually would search are things that I had coming up. I literally wrote about it. So naturally that's how I started. I wrote all my blogs, probably the first
40 blogs on my website, probably until. 2019 I wrote every blog
and the
whole thing was just like pretty. Can we do one a week? And then I was consistent. That's another thing. Consistency. Then from there I'm like,
I can just do two a month. So between it started off one a
week, then it went to two a week. And then from there I started
seeing results of people are going like, literally right now
I'm telling you, try it at home. If you Google right now, what is
the destination wedding Travel Bash will come up on the second page. So we can do it right
now, bu
t you'll see it. So basically I utilize content
to really share information. So like some people
are just writing stuff. They're like, Oh, I like this hotel. So I'm going to write on this or I don't
like this trip, but no because you want to write about what people will be searching. And the way you write is how people
would be actually looking for it. So even if you're like,
what is the all inclusive? And you talk about, Oh, these are
beautiful all inclusives here. That's not what somebody,
nob
ody's Googling that or nobody's searching that you want to search. What is all inclusive or what are
the best all inclusive Mexico city? What are the, you have to be very
specific and write around those keywords. So that's how, Kevin was like, Hey,
this is what we're going to do. I'm from. That day in May of 2017 on up to this day,
we've continued and stayed the course. I do not write blogs anymore. I actually hired that out. I've used several different people. I've even went on Lucia and had so
meone
to write blogs, but also because we're very specific in our process and have a
template up, make sure we do X, Y, and Z. I'm very picky about who writes
the box for me because The feel, the sound, all the emphasis that
we put in it is very important. It's not just writing content about,
Oh, Courtnie just came from this nice. Hotel in this trip, I'm not
looking for that type of content. So I'm very specific. And there's a guide, there's a
review process of like how someone needs to write, i
f that makes sense. So it took me a while to give that up. Not only just where it's things like. Having bullet points and making sure that
there's a lot of paragraphs within there. Is that correct? Correct. Yes, your headings. So when I first started writing
blogs, I didn't write for the SEO. I just wrote here's the question and
then I need to write the answer and then went back through and reviewed. Okay, these are keywords. This is what I want because also you want
to know what do you want to
rank for? Are you trying to rank for luxury this? Are you trying to, rank for cruise? Are you trying to, Weddings. Are you trying to do, if you only
do Africa, are all the different places in Africa, do you want
your blog or that page to come up? So that's what you're searching for. Yeah. And I think a great way for people
to think about it, because again, HR is very similar and the reason we
do so well in search is because we know the questions people are asking
and not able to get the answers
to. So putting, what makes you a good
salesperson and, Is because the questions that they're answering,
you're providing the answers. And this is at the point where
they're getting ready to start planning their destination wedding. These are the questions they're asking. And so it's perfect. Yeah. And you all also want to answer that
question in that first paragraph. Don't, I know people have you're
back in school where your intro and your outro in the middle. No, you want it because now Google
has
the thing like with, when you Google something, the part of the page before
you start getting all the results. That usually is bolded in black because, oh yeah, the snippet, correct. Those snippets is because it's going
to go right to, they're trying to find who has the close to the direct
answer that this person is looking for. Yeah, it's, it's really, exactly. I had something to say
on that and now I forgot. So we're going to move
on to your next question. So you have a lot of mentions, as
I said, from various magazines and podcasts on your site for social
proof, you've gotten a ton of press. Would you mind sharing with other
business owners, how they can get. Such an impressive press
selection on their website. What's the secret behind it? So I think that you
have to have a presence. And when I say presence, people
are going to also think social media and this big brand. And I didn't have any of that. Like I'm not big on social
media with following. You won't see that 24, 000 fo
llowers,
but like in the community in this industry, like when, where I'm writing
or I'm connecting with journalists or writers, or I'm trying to be
visible, I'm going to events, I'm networking, I'm building relations. That's where my fundraising
background came in. So the obvious one that probably most
people know is Hero, help a reporter out. When you get that sign up and actually
respond and you'll be shocked how many people are like, Oh, I'm going
to use this or here's a clip then from there
, reach out to local journalists
or national, whoever, the publication of people you want to be in and just
connect, maybe share some tips or you have to give them the information. So don't expect for them to come to you. Like you have to go to them
and say, I have a story. You have to make it very easy for them. Hey, this story, this is
a great angle on this. I think this was, your readers
would love this same with pocket and like that type of thing. You have to go to the people, not
just wait
and think Oh I'm killing it. I'm doing all the things like,
why isn't anybody coming after me? You're like, why isn't
somebody reaching out to me? Cause they don't, they might
not even know you exist. Like you have to have the presence. You have to seek it has
to be one of your goals. And so that's something that right
away I'm like, Oh, this will be great for me, because remember
you're building a business. And when I started off, I'm like,
I need to get some credibility. I need to start being
known
as the thought leader. And I actually went to our local
magazine Gainesville, living in the home of Gainesville. And I said, I don't want any money. They like, would you guys want
to do like a travel column? I'll share tips this, and that. And they're like, we would love to. So basically you're going to write for it. They need the content. They want the copy for there. So then I was a standing like
contributor in the local magazine. And from there, then other people
see Oh, she can write o
r her skills are buried to where now we
want to call her to do X, Y, Z. We didn't even know that she did that. So it was putting myself out there. I also say like with the presence of
building relationships with people, I'll stay in touch with journalists. I'll hit them up. LinkedIn is a great place for that. Stay on top of mind responding and not
like more of if you do this, I'll do that, or just thinking like transactional,
but really get another, like what their audience is looking for and be
in a value. That's why I said people like be a value. Stop asking for stuff like share. Yeah, exactly. And I think one of the key things you do
too, besides like proactively reaching out, because everyone is busy and
they're not keeping up with your life. And but then once you've actually made
those connections, you touch base six months in and say Hey, I just wanted
to see like how things are going. Or that's another key thing. Cause even if I know that person
in my mind, you meet a lot. If th
ey're a reporter, they're
getting a lot of emails from a lot of people every day. And so making sure that you're
staying top of mind, I think is also something you do really well. Courtnie. Yeah. And I'm going to link to in the
show notes help a reporter out or HARO, so we'll check that out. And you're also a really big believer
in email marketing over social media. So what makes you feel that way? Because you have a super
active Pinterest page. When I looked at it, I think it was
like 60, 000 m
onthly views or something. So to me, I'm just going to say
this, people are going to kill me. I don't even think of. Pinterest as social media. Pinterest is a search engine. So I use Pinterest just like Google
because I've created so much content. All it is another place
where people go to find me. And the difference between Pinterest
and other platforms are social media, like Meta and all of that is. People on Pinterest, if you do
your research, if shown it, when people are on Pinterest, they'r
e
more apt to buy people that are on Pinterest, they're ready to buy. On top of that, they reward
you for clicking off. Pinterest wants you to share and
wants you to go to a website. Instagram wants you to stay on Instagram. Facebook wants you to stay on Facebook. So to me, why wouldn't I
utilize, a place where. I'm killing it in search engine. So it's like your second Google
outside of like YouTube, so I'm killing it in that I have all this content
that I can repurpose and share out. It does. A
nd remember the people that are
on there, they're looking to buy. People on Instagram are not
necessarily looking for buys. So Instagram. Instagram is great to
keep your presence up. So then when people go and match, who
Courtnie Nichols says she is, they go to the Instagram, they'll go to the website. Oh, it makes sense. But my clientele don't make
buying decisions off of Instagram. Now what they do is
get travel inspiration. So they're like, Oh, I
just saw this person. Fly off of a hang leg,
t
hrough such and such. Ooh, Courtnie, can I do that too? But they're not like, let me go see how
they found out how to get on the hang. Look, no, they're it's inspo. It's Ooh, I really need a vacation. But they're not like,
Ooh, where's this hotel? I gotta, who booked this for them? Nobody's utilizing it for that. Like it's the end place of and I believe
now it's from everybody's selling stuff. So it's yeah, inundated with
just being sold to all the time. Oh my gosh. Yeah. The reason why I love e
mail
is because I know people, it's old school, but it works. Amy Porter is a big believer when
Instagram and Facebook shut down, even when pictures and everything else. And when you, when somebody gives you
their email, they want to hear from you. That's how you convert them
into like loyal clients. If I can get you on my list
and nurture you and create. Automations through my email,
it is proven there's research. They are no longer cold. They have said, we want
to learn more about you. Share w
ith us. And then you keep it going. You nurture them. When you get on a call, they know more
about you than you think they even know. So I'm a firm believer. If you don't have email marketing
in your Hopeful funnel of strategy. You're leaving money on the table. Like social media is cooling on. I know people are doing well, but what
I've also found is people that do use social media when they do get hits to
the website or consults, they spend more time weeding them out than getting
paying client
s, if that makes sense. Like the people that come to them
on their Instagram or their Facebook aren't really the clients they want. Yep. I So I'll echo a couple things with
you, because the same thing we see on our site, and we don't even have
that I wouldn't say that active of a Pinterest page, but we get a huge
amount of referrals from Pinterest. So I think it's often underrated. And it's not as sexy as Instagram or
Tik TOK right now, but I will, I'm going to link to your Pinterest page and yo
ur
website so people can check it out. I'll also link to, we did an article
or a edges spot during host week where someone did one on email marketing
and the newsletter, because it's a challenge to get it out with regularity. So she has a system for that. We'll link to that for people that
are interested in going the email route, which I would recommend. And really, so I'm going to get off
on a tangent cause I know well, Go ahead, go ahead. Email is, it's the same thing
that I said with content.
It's consistency. No one's expecting like you to send
something every day, but also if they know every Monday, I can't wait to
get, agent chat, like there has to be some regularity in the emails, the same
thing with the content, but literally. If you are in business, you
have four pieces of content. You can say whether it's something
that you just put on your blog, that goes out to email a new service
offering or a continuous service offering that you want to promote on
top of that, share what
you're doing. Like in my newsletter
at the end of the month. Oh, I just recorded a podcast. Share with them who you are. It's March madness. I'm a coach wife. It's been crazy right here. I just did this. I did that. So share with them more about
you because people apply from people they know, and trust. So they want to know who you are. They want to know who
they're working with. Share what's going on in the
industry, travel industry news. Cause for instance, right now,
cool cations is the thing
. So I'm putting on, I put on my
newsletter last week of Hey, people are going and instead of to the beach. They're like, Oh, we're
done with the beach. Want to do Coolcations and how you
how I found that was is every Monday I go and Google travel industry trends,
Google it and then go to news articles and you'll find what journalists and
stuff are writing about, which is another way to get in the publication,
because now You're like, Oh, this is something they're talking about. So let me get on
IG live real
quick and do a quick thing. Because now, journalists and outlets are
like, she's talking about something weird. We want to interview her
because she's probably knows. So it's simple things
like that to tie together. No, those are amazing tips, Courtnie. And I would one thing I think people
need to think about when they're doing the email newsletters is number one,
commit to something that you can do on a regular basis and that you'll have
something to say, like if you say twice a w
eek, that's really tough to come up
with fresh things to say twice a week. That's why we do a once
a month newsletter. Because we know we're going to have
good content for people and we're going to be able to push it out. And it's a lot easier that way. So let's see, you and I spoke and
you told me that the majority of the clients are people you've never met
in your life, which is not a surprise with your content marketing approach. So you get a lot of referrals, but
they're not your huge source
of leads. And. Yeah, so a lot of destination wedding
specialists that I speak to, they're really active on the Knot or WeddingWire
and they have their clients leave their reviews there, but you have your
clients leave your reviews on Google. So what's the thought process behind that? And then how do you ask for reviews? Yeah, so I don't like the Knot
or WeddingWire because one, WeddingWire makes you pay. For stuff. So like people know that they've gotten
in trouble, like paying for reviews, peo
ple think it's like TripAdvisor,
like people, Oh, I did this and I did that and really, no, you didn't. And you just pay someone for it. Plus my brides aren't really on wedding. Why are they not? Because they're not having a
traditional wedding most of the time. And wire the knot are for people
who are in traditional weddings. And again, I guess you could say I'm on
there and then I'll get the honeymoons, but I'm not going after the honeymoons. My bread and butter what I'm going after
is the big
dollars destination weddings. So it's untraditional. And so that's a traditional
way, to find clients. And so I'm thinking out of the box. The reason why I like
Google is just like we. Talked about probably since I came on
is remember Google is your friend, SEO. That's what people are searching. You want it, wanted to come up. That's going to come up before I know they
say, Oh, when and why I do this and not. And again, I have a free I think
on the not something from when I first started, like
we signed up
for all the online directions just so it would come up like, Oh, yeah. I'm an actual business, but to pay
there and to have reviews there. No, because my people
aren't going to see that. So I'm using Google because
that's where they're finding me. They're literally. They're searching for content or
they're like, okay, it was Travel Bash. That's so that is why utilize Google and
how we get reviews is part of our process of once we send emails out, obviously
we want to know how everyt
hing went, what we can do better in three words. What would you describe? All of that, we send them a link,
but also every client that we get. It's like a little custom size
postcard that we send as a thank you. So by the time they get to their
house, snail mail style, cause nobody sends mail anymore with handwritten
notes or anything, and I'm still like, I love a handwritten note we send
to every client and their guests. So if they've done this, Destination
celebration, a wedding, whatever it i
s. When someone gets home, surprise
from Travel Bash, we love you guys. Thanks so much. And here's what you can do to help us. Or if you're, we want to
create travel magic with you. If you know someone or now maybe
you were a guest and you're like, I'm having a 50th birthday. We want to come or like, and here, by
the way, here's the review, go online and Google and tell us how your experience. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense and
I'd really encourage a lot of you to take a look at the show notes
and
check out the copy on Courtnie's site because it's extremely well written. She's very clear on who is a good
client for her and who is not. And in marketing we all know that the
message that you want your message to find the clients that you're looking for, like
Courtnie spoke about earlier with people on social media, you may be getting a lot
of leads, but you're also wasting a lot of time if those aren't your ideal clients. Budget is an important piece of the
puzzle, but personality types
are as well. And Courtnie, you're really
straightforward on your site from the, everywhere I saw it on the homepage
to the frequently asked questions, to the contact us for on who is a good
fit for Travel Bash and who isn't. So what are the traits that you're
looking for in clients and why? So it differs between if you're
a wedding couple or again, You're planning some type of celebration. But my thing is fit to me is even more
important than budget because you're not going to drive me or my tea
m crazy. I call them PITA. Clients, we are getting rid of it. Like we're not, this is,
people have made it too hard. We're not curing cancer. It's not rocket science. We plan trips. We curate unbelievable experiences
and we want people who don't take themselves so seriously. I'm already type a, I don't want to work
with somebody type A, B, C, D, E, F, G. Like I'm not trying to like, I
could go back to corporate and get screamed at, send email,
like I didn't sign up for that. So the good thing ab
out owning your own
business is I choose who I will work with. And so I'm very particular and I can be
because I don't have to work with you. So I think a person that yes there's some
type of standard of Hey, you we operate in such a way because we don't want someone
that's just so every plate, like we send them an email, they don't get back. We're like, oh my gosh,
we've got a random man. Some type of organization, but they're
not saying, Oh, we want the flyers from Egypt over across the coast,
type it like, Oh, and where is it? And they're lying by line. We don't work with extreme coupons
and nickel and dimers and they're trying to save an extra 50 for this. We're not going to go back and yes,
we can process, but I don't work with clients who are asking for price match. Like we're not there. We're not there. Travel costs here. That's not, we're not going to
appeal to those types of clients. If that makes sense. They know what they want. They pay for what they want. They know we're th
e expert. They're not going to challenge us on it. That's why they hired us. They value their time. You know what I mean? Like those are people
that we want to work with. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, that's a great segue into
the inner workings of Travel Bash. So let's move into our next segment,
which is going to be about the inner workings, the operations
and the fees that are out there. I want to know about the booking
process for your clients. I know that your type A personality
is huge on pro
cesses and SLPs or standard operating procedures
for those that don't know. So once a client submits the form
on your site, they check the box that say they understand that
you don't work with What is it? Client? First of all, we do international
trips only exception for Hawaii. So you said that, and you'll be
shocked how many people that check that and still we want to get married. Oh, we have a lot. Steph, the girl, she will tell you
like, Oh, that means absolutely nothing. Yeah. That it's you
agree that you're,
our trip started at 5, 000. They agree that, and they
still doesn't mean anything. And then With weddings,
we 10 room minimal. It doesn't matter if it's a villa,
like 10 bedroom, like we, we don't work with small group, like four friends
and we want to go off someplace. Like it's actually large scale
events is what we prefer. Or that's what destination
celebrations that we specialize in. So check those boxes, they submitted
to us, which again, we know that means nothing half
the time. They don't even read. They just check. So then they can hit submit. So funny. Correct. And so then in our CRM system
we'll have someone on my team review and if they are fit. They'll be sent my inquiry brochure
with a link to schedule a call with me. If they're not a fit, then she'll,
tell them the reason why, whether it's we only take 11 weddings a month. So say they want to get
married in December. She's unfortunately, and
we'll refer them out. Cause I have some rockstar
colleagues o
ut there. And I will tell you, We have a
whole Asana board of colleagues that will rock your socks off. So it's not we're like,
Oh you can't work with us. Goodbye. We're like, no, actually
you want to do Disney. Here's such and such. Oh, you want to do this? Oh, here's that. Oh, here's only four. You want to do cruise? We know people, we can hook you up. We just can't work with
you if that makes sense. So they get this they schedule a call. Now this is the thing. We do a follow up email cause
we
're like, okay, we sent this, we have my heart for me. If they haven't scheduled
a call, then let's just say they're like, Oh, we're ready. They scheduled a call. They talked to me. I'm like, I call myself
like the sales queen. So my team passes the baton to me. I'm gonna close it now. Literally. You can ask anybody on my team. If they get on the phone with
me, they're probably going to be. So that's usually not our issue. If we had more of an influx of
clients clients, that would be the one thi
ng I'm like, Ooh, we need more. But then I'm also like, we don't
need that many cause we only need 11. Remember, but if they get on this
call with me, they're probably going to become clients from there. But unless I'm like, Oh no, it's
a no, cause on the call, it's not just about yeah, we're going
to work through this and that. It's also about they are not a fair. This is going to be crazy. Some mama's flying through the thing. Plus the deck. No. So I can already see it a mile away. So now they
're like, okay,
we are going to be a client. So then we onboard them through our CRM. We give them a welcome email
with next steps expectations, office hours, how we'll work. We give them access to
our bridal carry on. It's on the backside of our site where
we give them Anything they can think about was playing it up from food menu. Should they do buffet to play the
menu, to food stations, to like how to change your name, to fly reservation. Like it's our, we call it a bridal
carry on, like your
carry on bag. And it's literally all the things that
are going through their minds or things that we work with clients on when they're
planning their destination wedding from the things that the resort will
ask them for, if it's all inclusive or for things that when we have non all
inclusive guests of how the hotels were different and what the deposits look like. So it's like a resource library. So basically when they reach out to
us, someone on my team is going to like, did you check your carr
y on? You know what I mean? Cause a lot of times the
information is in there. It's going to do like wedding theme
boards, mood boards, and all that. Again. They become a client, we welcome them
with the email, they're assigned a client lead, we walk them through our process
and what we expect and their homework and then give them access to information. And then from there, we start
the wedding design process. 1 thing I will say, I'm probably
different from a lot of my colleagues is. In their inq
uiry process, they get
a lot of information from the couple or not even, let's just say not
just wedding clients, just period clients, their inquiry brochure or
their inquiry questions inquiry. See, I can't say the word. Their inquiry questions
are more trip related. I don't know if you've noticed that,
but a lot of times when you go to trauma invited sites or when I talk to
my colleagues and some of them are my friends, they're already asking for dates,
what's their favorite food and all that.
I'm like, not on an increase. That's what my problem is--- yeah, yours is really on the
website you're talking about. Yours is really general. Yeah, because this is the thing. I don't care nothing about your dates. You might not be my client. You know what I mean? You're asking for too much information
like they're already paying and then what happens is you're getting all the
information like, oh yeah, and then you're talking about, I'm thinking about
this and you were talking about this resort
in Mexico and then you give it
to them and you don't hear it from them. You done gave them everything they need. Yup. Hire me first. Then we'll talk about
your trip or your wedding. Yeah. And I while you were talking for those
that are watching on YouTube, I pulled up the inquiry form that Courtnie sends out. We'll also link to that in the show notes. If people want to take a look, it just
talks about the kind of the pricing, what you do, what's included with that some
testimonials and that sor
t of information. So we'll look link to that. All right. Your largest group so far has been
about a hundred people, I think, but most groups fall between 40 to 85 for
your probably destination weddings. And that's a huge problem and challenge
to communicate with that many people. So how do you and your team, how
have you solved that problem? So you're not getting inundated. Going back to those SOPs and systems. So literally I'm an SOP like. Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm recording a little video and
on t
op of that, Courtnie, I'm doing my step by step process that
we all house in the Google Drive. So when I tell you there's an SOP
from air for everything from how we answer the phone when a credit cards
decline, what we say to someone's in inquiring about rooming rates,
even though we've seen it like literally everything you can think of. We probably have an SOP how we communicate
with external partners, all of that. Literally, our systems and process save
a lot of time on the front end that we'v
e already loaded into our system. So we have all emails
that are scheduled out. Based on their trip date and at different
points, whether we have 150 days, 250, like I advise everyone to not
only get a CRM, but a project manager. And so some people use Trello cards,
some people use Asana, I use Asana, some people use ClickUp, Monday, whatever,
but I would have a project management tool, especially if you have a team that
you guys all collaborate on, because there's different stages of your trips
and weddings, booking process from the pre planning to, planning, booking. To the pre travel to the concierge
type stuff to then they're in travel. So when they come home, break
them down in process and steps. And so that allows us to communicate
what needs to be communicated at certain points of the trip. We've also created, I know
I create a lot of stuff. I'm just thinking, Steph's gonna
listen to this and be like, I know, and you're driving me nuts. No, I love it. Have an FAQ, a PDF that
we
send out on initial. Onboarding of the guests. So we don't just onboard our clients,
but especially for destination celebrations, there's several
moving parts of family and friends. So we give them that FAQ. We also have a link for our website. It's also in our signatures,
like frequently asked questions. We try to make sure,
because this is the thing. People need to hear things multiple times. It's just like in your
marketing themselves. They used to say seven. I heard now it's like 13 and then
I
heard I was listening to a podcast over there and they were like 30 something. I was like, what? But meanwhile, it makes sense because
they checked that box that they're going to do 5, 000 international and they still
say we're going to afford it for 10,000. So what I'm saying is. We try to make it very easy. We have several different, checkpoints
within the trip process that allows us to communicate the information
they need before they actually need. We try to be proactive on the front end.
So one quick question. So with your SOPs, do you do it? With video or is it written out? Oh, girl. Yeah. So I say because I'm the one
that's visual, I have to look at stuff, but some people are
like, I don't need to look at it. Do you have it somewhere written down? So if you come on my
team, you'll have both. And then we link it into our Asana
project management tool, and they're all housed on the um, the Google Drive. And then within the trip process,
let's just say I died tomorrow and I need
you to pick up my trip. Within our trip process. If it says 150 days, do this. Inside the template, we have the copy. So you wouldn't even have to
think of anything on the spot. It's Hey, such and such da. And then it'll even have the steps of
the how to that's how detailed I am. I haven't always been like that. I know I'm cray a little bit. I'm glad that my team appreciates
it, but now we're at the. Point of, because I have
everything built out, it's like quarterly updates or audits. So right
now we're in the auditing
process because we noticed some of our emails in Asana weren't matching what
was in our CRM and we're like, no, we've updated or elevated our copy. So we need to make sure that, so
we do that quarterly now, but now. We have everything and we have
loom videos created and we do a step out like on how this operates
and who needs to be involved. So even on the document that the steps
that you were to do, make sure here are the resources that you need for this. We linked to
it. And then here are the people that you
might need to have signed off on it. So it's not just the here's how, but
here's all the other information you need to know that goes with this as well. That's fabulous stuff. So how long do your quarterly
audits take you then? So how about the one we started? Cause I don't want to say we started
right in quarter one of January. It was like halfway and literally
right before this podcast, we were like, we're almost finished. And it's literally about to b
e
quarter two because we have so much. So it's just our content. We have so much built out. And so like our system is robust. It's just like email. I always try to add, first
you just start with one thing. Oh, we're going to do email. We'll do three. We'll do five. Oh, this doesn't really fit us. Let's do this. Let's do that. And so the more automations, the
more systems, also the more services, we added curated trips this year. So the more things, then that's,
More that you have to have. And I
think there's a common
misconception with SOPs that it's write it once and done. And the thing is that they are
constantly morphing and that's what's challenging about them. Businesses 20 years ago, the SOPs didn't
change that much, but now technology changes so quickly and what you're
using might change that the screenshot where you were like, click this button. It's no longer there anymore. ,
you have to, from when I used to do the
job of booking when, because obviously I was the first person
to write
the SOP to then Chelsea on my team. Then she didn't do different. Then when Ashley came, she's oh, I think
we do, we should do this or cut this out. I'm like, make sure you update it. Like we've switched people
doing it and there's certain people that like do it this way. We've streamlined. We're also like. At one point we didn't have for our
groups, our weddings and groups. Like we wanted to display like
you're invited to such and such. And we would just do email for it. They were lik
e, no, we're going to up it. So then we started doing the
Canva website, making it nice. And now we have something on
that built into our website. You know what I mean? So as things evolved and we start
also auditing our client experience, we want to take it up a level,
then we have to do something else. Exactly. So you started out in
the sun and fun space. And then, as you're saying, you're
elevating the client experience. So now you're more on the destination
wedding celebration groups. And fr
om what I've heard, you've been
very strategic through the years when it comes to building your business to make
sure it's one that meets your financial goals, as well as keeping your life
like a lower stress level and that you have this healthy Work life balance. So let's talk about your philosophy
about only taking one destination wedding a month that you're booking
one a month and 11 total for the year. So what's behind that? So again, I started in the fun
and sun and it was just like, that's
why you get in trouble. You're still in the, no shade, but like
you're still in the all inclusive package. The main market. Yeah. And then you got to move on your elevator. So I said, look we're a luxury
brand, we're Travel Bash. Destination wedding. We're not for the brides that
are trying to have the 10, 000 free wedding in Mexico. We have brides that are spending
60, 000, 70, 000 in Mexico. Like matter of fact, we only take,
the minimum budget just to start working with us is 25, 000 period.
So like we're not, we've elevated
what type of weddings that we do. And they're not all, all inclusive. We do all inclusive, but
there's some that we don't. The same with group. It is a luxury destination wedding
concierge as well as groups. With that said, My whole life balance. Cause this is the thing. I started my business to
create the life I want to live. Meaning I need flexibility. My husband's a college basketball player. We go here, we play here. I'm going to the game. I'm not missing s
omething
because I'm tied down. Cause if that's the case,
I could go back to work. So I was very clear about my intention
of why I started my business. It was one, to have the flexibility. Then two, to make money. I always tell people that
hobbies cost you money. Businesses Make you money. And so I'm in business
and it is to make money. So I had to look at the
numbers, which people don't do. And I actually said, this is how
much I want to make circling in bold. I went through with public and I
h
ave a whole spreadsheet, Excel. We play with it and change the numbers. I need this amount to get to this amount. So I looked at, okay, what do I offer? Okay. Destination wedding. And then I'll do some group trips. And this is outside of my retainer model. So I'm like, I'm not mass producing. I'm not trying to do a hundred million. I need to do 11, one a month that
produces this amount of income. And I'm good. Yeah. Courtnie, what does that look like? One, I have to elevate the service
that I'm
providing for a specific client because a specific client
that has a destination wedding date. In South Africa, the Belmont is very
different from the client that's getting married at the review or carnival
cruise at this, there's no, there's no wrong, it's different for different
folks, but what they desire looks different, or I should say desire,
maybe it might be what they can afford or like what the expectation of working
with someone looks a little different. And so then also my price point
. So in our industry, it's one
of those things that, yeah, now people are charging, but. Not a lot of people charge fees and
the fees they charge when I tell them my fee, they're like, what? They pay that? Yes. Cause I've showed them the value. And so I was like, my fee has
to go up because also you got to think with the level of clients
that I'm working with, if my price doesn't go up, I lose credibility. Luxury clients are used to paying, so
if I tell them I'm white glove service designated an
d I help them with X, Y,
Z and I only charge 500, they're not going to work with me because they're
going to think something is wrong. You got to think, the person that
is willing to spend that type of money, there's a disconnect. So I knew the market I wanted to, get
to, so I had to price accordingly. And so yeah, I said 11
weddings, none in December. People are like, why not in December? One is my birthday and I
don't work on my birthday. It's my birthday month. I don't want to deal with
no br
ides and that's it. And they're like,
Courtnie, you're spoiled. Yes, I'm an only child. I know it. I'm traveling every birthday that I have. I'm traveling. I don't want to worry about a
bride, even if they're like, but Courtnie, you have a team. It doesn't matter. I don't even want to Oh
my gosh, how are things? That doesn't yeah. Yeah. And you got to think with Christmas and
all the holiday eggs, there's no traveling December and matter of fact, when I first
started, I only did 10 weddings beca
use I didn't do a wedding in March because of
March madness and I'm like, I can't get bogged down, but I worked through that. And yes, we can do a wedding in March
now, but December is off limits. No, I didn't know the March one. That's hysterical. Let's see. And you have that, so you have this
fee for the destination wedding couples and that's 5, 000 for their group. And again, it has the minimum 10
rooms minimum wedding spend of 25 K. And you tell people. Your guests, It should
be 500 to 1, 00
0 a night. Yeah, they should expect that. So the properties that I'm going
to work with are, when we're coming up with a contract, it
should be in this price range. So if it's not, then they're
probably not a great fit for us. And so then, Outside of these
destination wedding ones. You also have the fee
for the group clients. That's the same as the
destination wedding price, right? Correct. Okay. If it's a destination
celebration, it's the same. Cause it doesn't matter if you're not
getting marr
ied, you're still, I'm still playing with a group of people somewhere. So the work flow and how
everything operates is still the same and at the same level. Yeah. And do you, so have you played around
with that fee through the years at all? Yeah. When I first entered the business in 2017,
I started off with a fee and it was 500. 2000. 2018, 1, 500. 2019 it was 2000. When I got to 2020 'cause I had to rebook. I had I got hit with a lot of re 'cause
their weddings and so I had a back. So I ended u
p having, matter of
fact, two weddings in December in 2021 because of that dang covid. I was up to 20. In 2021, I was up to 2,500. Okay. Yeah. And then went to 3000 and then from
3000 to five so every year I've gone up. Yeah. So this is one of the things. So you oftentimes reverse engineer things. You figure out your goal, you reverse
engineer it and go from there. . And right now you have another
section of your business where you have the retainer clients, your VIPs. Yes. That's a flat annual
fee of 6,500. And they need to have a minimal. Minimum annual travel spend of 50 K. So you've also put--- and that's not flight, no flights. Yeah, okay. And not flights. And then you've also put the self imposed
limit of 25 people can be on that, which you're getting pretty close to being. So what. This has obviously been pretty successful. What kind of advice do you
have for advisors that are looking to do something similar? Because I think for a lot of people
mentally, that's a really hard, a
retainer is a difficult thing to jump into. So it's the same thing. When I said I was charging a fee, I
didn't charge 5, 000, I charged 500. But the thing is, if you want to get
into a retainer model, you have to start. Meaning it doesn't have to be the 6, 500,
but you need to start with something. Look at your top. I always say. Only 20 percent of your clients are
giving you 80 percent output anyways. So start there. Look at those 20 percent of
your clientele who keeps coming back to you year a
fter year. Are you booked three or four trips? Look at the three or
four trips you booked. How much did you get paid? What was the trip? What was the service? If you're charging a fee, what was
the fee for those three or four trips? If you're not, what could it be? But say if I have a client that's
already went on three trips and I started 500, that's 1500 right there. So I'm going to go to them and say,
Hey, John we booked this many trips. Would you like to go ahead? Talk with their people. The
y're not robots. They put their pants on just like you,
you spent this amount of money, 1500 on this year, let's do a flat 2, 500. You can plan as many trips. You want for the year, and I, you have
me, I'm your personal travel concierge. Think of me like your inner
circle, like your accountant, your lawyer, you know all of that. . You think they're gonna say no,
they're already giving you 1500. What's another, what's an extra thousand? . Now you've locked them in and the
one thing about retainer
clients that shows you they're loyal to you. They're already working with you. You already know them and you can
start curating even better trips because now you know them more. It's not a transactional. Or they booked this trip with me one year
and then they came back two years later. You know about Maddie. We know about Cedar. We sent gifts to Cedar. It's a dog. We know Cedar. And there's like Cedar's birthday. He has an Instagram page and he
tagged us because we gave Cedar, you start knowing
intimate. Things about your clients,
the, the the dance recital. And again, you have the dog and that
mom's 70th birthday coming up and she really wants to go on this crew. You know what I mean? Like you can start curing. Oh, my husband only drinks
Hendricks gin, not Bombay. Like you start making that even better
and throwing them surprise and delight. So go to your people, those 20
percent and look at how many trips they're booking and start with there. You got to start with that. And so my th
ing is with my retailer
model, I found out it was during COVID. So I just stepped into it to be honest. It wasn't like I was smart or
I had this plan of Oh, I'm just going to change and do this. It was like, no, luxury
doesn't see a recession. And I had people that were still traveling
and I had to learn about charting yachts and, private planes and all of that. They didn't know I didn't know
that, but I was the solution to the problem and I figured it out. And I said, by the way, because these
are
people that already spend a lot of money. And they're spending big money. So I'm like, why wouldn't you want me
as your go to girl for all your trips? And literally it's a no brainer. Matter of fact, I shouldn't be charging
more than what I charge to be honest. Really. Get access to me. It should be 10, 000 and I should
have two ICs under me that are at the level I'm at for the, cause you
got to think a person who's going to pay somebody what they pay me now,
65 to 10 thousand is not a big j
ump. And if you can afford to pay someone
that, and you're doing this type of travel, it's a drop in the bucket. And I'm not saying you're not going
to have those clients, but even if you have a family that you do multiple trips
for, and maybe they're not spending it. Tons of money. They have still paid you, trusted you
to come back multiple times in a year. They can pay an extra whatever
to say, Hey, there's some VIP. This is our go to client. Here's some extras that go along with it. If that m
akes sense. It's an easy concept to be on it. I don't even understand why more of us
have not adopted it because after COVID. If you didn't learn anything, if you
didn't charge fees, you should be. And if you charge fees, you
realize you should be charging more because you're in the hole. So I'm looking at how to create a
profitable and sustainable business. Yeah. No matter what life throws at you. How did you come to the 25 number? Because you got to think these people
are not, you're like, I'l
l talk to you every once in 10, 10 years, these
people, high level, like they're going to be wanting white glove service. The type of service I want to provide
and as much as people travel because you're going to have some because
you got to think for this type of client, it's a drop in the bucket. So they're treating it
like a gym membership. Yeah, we hired you and we're
only going to go on two. Then you're going to have some
that are going to go on 10. Then you're going to have some
that don't
abuse it at, for, but they're going to still plan their
domestic travel, like insights. They're just going to use
you for international. And so I said, 25 has to be the
cutoff because I'm not going to be able to manage more than that. Cause you got to think. Let's just say 25 people take four trips. Look how many trips and the
type of trips they're taking. They're not doing the, they're traveling. Yeah. I do have some that might just go to Cabo
for this or then, fly down to here, but they're al
so going all over the world. So I also know my limits because
remember, this isn't the only thing I do. I'm still the girl in the, I'm not in
the day to day but I'm still running. A whole destination where,
I'm a wife, I'm a daughter. You know what I mean? And remember I created this
business for flexibility. So what I found is I am at the point of,
I'm at a crossroads that I keep saying. I think I've been saying for six months. So I think people are like what
are you going to figure it out? I'm
working on it, but
I'm at the crossroads. If I have one business or machine, but not
making the income that I would Then I had one business making a lot of the income I
would like, but it takes up a lot of time. You know what I mean? And remember when I started my
business, it was about flexibility. Yeah. Let's talk about your team since
anyone that owns a business knows you can have an amazing team, but as a
business owner, your brain is never off. There's a constant hard drive still
running g
oing out of business. So tell us about your team because you
have the, you have employee ICs mix, but it's not the type of independent
contractors most people think of in that it's not like someone with their
own travel agency in their brand. So tell us more about your team. I don't hire anyone to sell travel. And when I say sell travel as their
own person or their own brand, or again, the traditional IC role of like
you're utilizing Travel Bash's numbers to then book your own clientele. Everybo
dy works for Travel Bash
either part time or as an IC. And the IC is basically as a
specialist, whether it's digital marketing or it's content. Admin outside of my reservation specialist
that actually books the travel and the trip and communicate with vendors. I utilize them for areas in my business. So if you had a marketing department, you
would have a market for, if you have an account, so that's how I utilize them. Like they're all department
chairs of Travel Bash court, which is very differ
ent from people. I don't like the IC model to be honest. It makes me think of MLMs to be on it. There's nothing wrong, but it. It makes me feel spammy that
like you use my number and then I get some of your money and
then you keep some, I don't know. It's something about it. I just can't. I'm like, I don't really like that. You should be paid. If I want you to sell travel,
then you need to have a salary. You need to be paid. If I can't do that, then I
just don't, yeah, I don't know. It's weird t
o me. I just think that with the ICs
and recruiting people and doing all of this, like that's not the
business model I want to have. I also don't want to be a big conglomerate
where I have all, I don't want to be a hostage and have all these ICs and
run a rap and y'all do your own thing. I'm very much boutique
because also I'm luxury. So I want to control how the
brand is presented to the masses, if that makes sense. That totally does. And one of the things you talked about
too, is you have thes
e specialists, but you you have the SOPs of course,
but you also do cross training. And I say that now and I just parted ways
with someone on my team, actually one of my very first hires, but I
crosstrain because this is the thing as a business owner, it's dangerous. If someone knows something that no one
else knows, in your business I think that's the riskiest thing because you're
basically sitting in a chair with three legs and because if someone dies tomorrow
and someone leaves and someone ru
ns off, there's a part that only they know how to
do not even you because it's the thing. I'm so much out of the day to day. I was literally tagging
Ashley this morning. Ashley's on my team and she
had a root canal or something. And I was asking her about the automail. I was like, did they
not go out or something? And she's oh, they changed the process. I don't know that. You know what I mean? Because I'm not in the day to day. But again, she's already
created SOP and all that. But If I was just
so hands off and
didn't keep updates or know what's going on and just let her run, she
could be doing anything to be out. I'm glad you're not asking. Thank you. But what I'm saying is that's how
much I'm out of the business of like data that I'm not in the CRM. So I don't know the update. It was just like when I'm
practicing okay, I gotta do this. Welcome. I'm up here. Test me because I don't
do this on a daily. I have a team that does this. I believe in cross training
because everybody needs t
o know how to do everything. And I only hire people who believe that. Nothing's bigger than them. If I clean the toilets,
you clean the toilets. I know we're virtual, but if I can
get on the phone and pick up and talk to a client, you need to be able to,
it doesn't matter that you do SEO. And this is now, if a client has a
concern, you should be able to jump in. So my thing is I cross train everybody. That doesn't mean that you're going
to be doing that role, but you need to know how you're more
valuable. And also I believe that
in building your team. So people are your biggest
investment in your business. Yeah. Especially when they're not full time
employees, you don't have a lot of benefits and you're starting, but that
professional development and stretching them and growing them into individuals
and like really flexing your leadership muscle to me is important because I think
the reason why I've had people stay on my team as long as I have is because
first of all, we work hard, pla
y hard. I don't take myself serious,
but business, I'm on my shit. They know that, but also we're
going to have a good time. But I think that I let them flourish. When they have ideas,
this is not my business. It is my business, but like I give
them a ton of if they come up with this idea, they say, Hey, Courtnie,
we started this new email stuff. So now we do four, four emails a week
and we have different strategy points. I'm like, this is great. And I'll just let her run with it. She already li
ke step on
my, I have a step two. So the step on my team is already Oh
gosh, I'm giving myself more work. When we do our team meeting, she's
we should try this and do it. I'm like, perfect. And she's so that means I'm able to me. I'm like, yes, I know. Yeah, it's definitely I we've had
our team members do that too, or it's like, what about this idea? Oh, yeah. That means I have to
implement it then too, huh? Huh. Yeah, I'm like, I love it though. Let me know. Send it over when it's
done or stuff
like that. That's how I am. I'm like, big on the type of team. Cultural fit's important. Also The type of people I hire,
can roll up their sleeves. Like they're gritty. I like gritty people. Like you don't have to be the most, like
obviously we're in the travel industry. So people like I don't want them
to have hospitality and tourism background and they work with travel. I actually don't want you to. Matter of fact, besides that,
she's the only person that has any travel industry experience at
all. I don't need, this is the thing. My business just happens to
be in the travel industry. I run a business though. So the functions are all
the same in any business. If that makes sense, you're selling,
you're getting clients, you don't have to be a child agency to do that. You know what I mean? Like the functions of what it
is you're doing, if you've done it anywhere from real estate to
construction, it doesn't change. If that makes sense. Yeah, and I do things against the way
traditional a
gencies do it anyway. Matter of fact, if you were to come from
a child agency, you probably would be fighting it against me because you're
like why don't we do it this way? Or we don't do that. Or I was used to it because I don't
do anything the way that I was taught when I got into the industry. I moved away. Yeah. One of the biggest challenges for
business owner is the hiring process. Whether it's an I. C. or an employee and you've, you have
a really thorough hiring process that you thought th
rough pretty well. So talk to us about that process. Yes. So obviously, yeah. I'm slow to hire quick to fire
because it's, again, it's an investment and you want somebody
that's going to grow with you. Plus, again, a fit I'm a type a I'm an
integram a, I have a strong personality. Like it was so funny. My team told me the other day we were
interviewing some girl maybe a year ago and they were like, she can do the job. But I feel like the minute she
makes a mistake, she's going to cry because you
're going to eat her up. The fact that they know that
about me, I'm like, okay, great. She's not hired, but I'm like,
guys, I think she'd been okay. Cause she was the athlete in college. She's used to like. When you're an athlete, I was an athlete,
like you've gotten yelled at and you gotta go, they're like, I don't know,
Courtnie, she's pretty light green. I'm like, okay, cool. We're not scratching, but basically
hiring process, like I do more than just resume and cover letter
because anybody c
an write anything. It's chat GPT out there. They'll tell me they're a rock star. It means nothing. References mean nothing because
no one was going to send you a reference that would be bad. I'm not having them
answer specific questions. I'm doing a task assessment. I even have them do a
strength finders test. Like I have steps and processes,
but I also see, I'm going to give y'all another tip. Tatiana O'Hare, if you don't know
who she is, look her up or we can link probably to the Tatiana O'Har
e. She does teams operations. She's a mastermind and For solo
preneurs and people that are starting to build a team in different ways,
she is a great resource to utilize. I was in one of her first
beta groups on hiring. And there were several different models. Like she's worked for all,
like all these big companies. And then. Tear tore down, like how they operate
in their teams and, relationally, and she's really taught me a lot. But also I have a friend that works
for Microsoft that runs her ow
n talent. You know what I mean? So I'm around them. I always say, if it's not me, it's
somebody I know, like I try to be around the people that know what they're doing. It just makes me look
good if that makes sense. So I have streamlined
my present and ran that. Through them, if that makes sense. Or like I've gotten the valuable or
wise information or the tips and how I've gotten it to the point of where
it's at is because of my people. If that makes sense. It does. So we're going to link to th
e
enneagram test if people aren't familiar with the enneagram. It's like a Myers Briggs. The stress finder test, Tatiana's, we'll
link to her website in the show notes. One of the other things you mentioned,
but I want you to go more brief er. More in depth on is you
have them do a task. Yes. So the reason why I have a task,
because again, anybody can say they can do anything on a resume. So for instance, depending on the
role, let's just say it's an admin. I might have a test of this is an inbo
x. What would you do? Or for instance, I w I would say
like your travel coordinator. And I need you to do a day in the life. Like what is your Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, like at 12 o'clock, do the date. And what I'm really trying to find
out how detail oriented, because someone could be like on Monday, I
started this, I did that Tuesday. I did it. But somebody said, Hey, this 9am,
that's the girl or the guy I want, the one that is remember what business
we're in the attention detail. So I want
to see how they process
things and how detailed they are. Like for the admin inbox or like I've
done a script of You had an angry client. Are there some new guests that
was looking to book their room? For somehow an email didn't go out
and they didn't get confirmation that there was room booked or receipt paid. You come into your inbox on Monday. What does that look like? I want them, I want to
know how would you respond? Oh, I'm looking at the responses
of Oh, this is an alignment or, Oh, I wou
ldn't say that, or
what made them think that way. So it gives you a little, it says
not necessarily always skill level. Sometimes with written communication, it's
great because you see how people write. Yeah. Obviously because they could
go back and put something. But what I'm saying for the most
part, you get a feel for how they do things, if that makes sense. So I always believe in a test
assessment, depending on what it is. If they're a marketing person, why
not create a video or send them a
Canvas slide dev and tell them this. So I can see what it would look like. It just depends on what the
position is, but I always believe that you need to see something
because every day, like it's 2024. People go, if they're catfishing people
and saying, putting them on dating apps, there are people that are applying
to your jobs that are a six year old grandma sitting at home, but they say
they're like a 25 year old marketing guru that has sold over 50 million. Like nowadays you really can't
te
ll from just a resume and a quick 20 minute call with somebody. That's not enough to know when you're
really trying to, you got to think people are a big investment, so you
need a little more skin in the game. Okay. Yeah, no, exactly. Especially with the remote team. So, let's move into our next
segment because I this is the wisdom segment, so these last, what, seven
years, what you've accumulated. So I know you do a lot of your continuing
education outside of the industry and it's very entrepre
neur and business focused. So what are a few of your go to resources? Outside of the industry that really
help you run your business better. So outside the industry, I
listened to a lot of podcasts from marketing made simple anything with
Donald Miller, the story brand. I like that. Entrepreneurs on fire
DLCA yeah, it's a DLCA. Yes. Several different people. I love to Alicia Hall, Mottie Woodard. Also I have a mindset coach, Serena Hicks. Also my other, she does money
mindset, Jen Diaz because a
lot of the stuff from outside of the
industry, because remember I'm an entrepreneur, I'm a business owner first. I just happened to run a travel agency. And so that's a mindset shift. The fact that I can charge somebody when
I charge them and how I sat on here was like, actually I should be charging 10. Like people will probably guess when
it wasn't like, what, how is she charging 10, 000 to plan a trip? That's a mindset shift because I know
my value and that's the confidence. So a lot of that
you have to get before
you run a business, and then when you run a business, that scarcity starts coming
out, our parents and grandparents meant well, they're trying to keep you safe. But like I always tell
people now I'm thriving. I'm not surviving. My, my grandparents
survived so I could thrive. So I can get out of some of
those things that I was taught. For my survival. If that makes sense. So I always believe that if you're not
doing something to stretch that mindset or that abundance mindse
t or that money
mindset, also people automatically think. Oh, my finances suck. I'm going to get in business
and they're going to get good. You automatically, you're going to
be a finance guru in your business. If your personal finances are whack, your
business finances are going to be whack. Exactly. There's things that you
have to get in order. And if you haven't, you'll get
exposed as a business owner. So if there's anything. Financial literacy or, mindset
or just running a business. A lot of
times it's sales, it's
marketing, but like a lot of times people focus on marketing. They're only talking about your brain and
then the logo and a website and messaging. Marketing is more than that. Do you know what a funnel is? Like how are you getting
people to talk about it? How are you bringing them from the
awareness phase to like the light phase and then, okay, getting them on the call. And then once you get on the
call, can you close them? They'll sell skills. Do you know how to do objec
tive? That has nothing to do with travel. That's just you running a business. Anything that you would do,
you would need to know that. So I try to surround myself with
people that are in those spaces and that are experts in their field within
operations and marketing and sales and business and just like entrepreneurs. Cause also it can be lonely
when you're starting out. You like, especially if you're not doing
things the way it's always been done. You, when you're being told that. Yeah, isn't g
oing to work exactly. So you're like, you just
want to be around people. I like Michael Hyatt cause I was
reading his book, mind your mindset. Like you just want to be around
people and read things and listen to things that are uplifting and
that are going to feed your soul. Yeah, I don't know. Can I go into the business
or you want me to wait? Yeah, hold on because I'm gonna
Courtnie, as listed a lot because she is like natural network in here. I'm going to link to
all of those in there. And th
e 1 thing I want to point out before
we have you go on again is that I think the inspirational portions are super
important, especially for new advisors, because Courtnie started in sun and fun. She didn't start charging the 50 or, 6,500
or 5 thousand, like it's incremental. And so I think people come in
and are like, Oh, I'm going to start with this retainer. Businesses evolve as you grow
and mature and learn things. So have that as inspiration. And it's okay if that's not
what you're starting
off with. That's your goal. And you have to go back. So this is what I always tell
people when they're like, so what is success or what are, is all
this I've been on these pockets? Like my goals might not
be the same as your goal. If some people are just like,
girl, this is my nail money. I want to get my nails done and I want
to be able to take a couple of trips. Some people are like, I
got to retire my husband. And some people are like, no, I'm good. I'm going to take this. And it goes back to
what it is you want,
like what does success look for you? Like for you, I'm already successful. I already tell people I don't
have to have another client. Cause first of all, I did something
that a lot of people don't do, which is start a business. Like I'm successful business too. Yeah. So I say to tell people all the time,
it's I created the life I want to live. I said, I want to do this and
this is how I want to do it. And so that was also one of those
affirmations of I can make money in the
way I want to make, like it's not
just making money or the business, but like in the way I want to do it. So I had to believe it. It's an important, I think cause I did
the same thing with HAR, like we ran, we're just, we were just very different
and how we approach things and people weren't quite sure about my approach
to it in the beginning, but I think it's when you're first starting out and
starting your travel agency, it's really important because as you get busier,
it's harder to just tot
ally unplug and be like, what's my vision because your time. Is an asset that there's
not a lot of anymore. So in the beginning, thinking about what
your big dreams are and different ways that you can achieve it so that as your
business evolves, you have those already in place on what your end goal is. And I do believe for new
agents are like clarity. So here's the one thing that
I wish somebody would have. I don't wish somebody would have
told me, because obviously I probably would need to lear
n. I'm a hard headed, so I probably
need to learn it the hard way. If somebody told me, I would be like,
you don't know what you're talking about. I'm stubborn. But the one thing I would say
is like, People don't hire until they actually need to hire. You should hire before you need to hire. And so when I say new agents, maybe
not your first year, but what I'm saying is you need to hire more
like quicker than what you think. And the same thing is you need
to pay for services that you think that
you shouldn't pay for. So I believe I'm a big if I want people
to buy from me, I have to buy from others. If I don't know something and
someone is an expert and they saying they can help me, then I have to. Pay their feet because I want somebody
to pay my feet like, that's the whole universe and like money flows to your
money flows from you, like back and forth. I see a lot of times people are
trying to like, bootleg and nickel and dime and then they're like,
why am I not getting the results? Be
cause you're taking clients on Instagram
and the DM and then saying, like how treat your business like a business. If that's what you want, if you're
actually in business and you want to have a business, treat it as such. And I believe that as a new agent. Boundaries to new agents. I feel like it's not existing because
they feel like I just have to do this. Cause you know, I'm trying to get the
clients and I, and to me, that's a deadly, what you're doing is like my
husband was saying, you're pra
cticing bad habits and so you think you're
going to show up to the game, ready to hit three, but you practice that, like
when you don't have good practice, you don't play well, you don't, you can't
have a switch where you practice bad habits and then you think when it's
game time that you come ready to play. Cause it's going to show up. Yeah. So when we're talking about these visions,
one of yours was having, like you said, the flexibility in the work life balance. So how did you build
that into
your company? So I'm big on boundaries. So you, people know, don't
call my phone after this. I'm appointments only. I'm like probably people in the
industry, they probably already know because people that meet me
and I'm very, again, I'm direct. I let people, I let clients know. Even with the white glove service, I'm a
white glove service, but that don't mean I'm your personal admin or secretary. Like you can't call me
on all types of night. Like I had a client that was
like, my robe wasn't in
my room. The concierge, like we nip
all of that in the bud. So quickly already, like when I first,
even when I was doing fun and son, I had boundaries of I used to talk to my one
friend, she's not in the business anymore. She does life coaching now, but
she had 300 something clients. I'm like, what? And she was sending them email. I said, why are you doing that? When this is the thing, when you book a
hotel on Marriott, do they see a reminder? This is the net. No. And then if you don't cancel, g
uess what? You just get charged that first night. The pot, they don't say,
remind me if you're going to book, you better do it today. Cause your money's going to be forfeit. Like I don't understand
that small business owners. Why sometimes we don't apply the same
things that fortune 500 business. Like when you go to the doctor, you
don't get to go I want Friday at 6 PM. They don't operate right. Matter of fact, you can't
even tell them Friday at one. They're like our first available
appointment
is that the 28th at three. Okay. Yep. You gotta take it, right? And then, guess what? You don't say while you're on the
phone, I need to talk to the doctor. No, you schedule an appointment,
then you show up, and then you gotta wait on the doctor. But people continually
go to the doctor, right? They don't just say, I'm gonna stop going. So why in our business we think because
someone couldn't take a call in our hours that we set aside for a reason,
That we should just bend it and be like I can do
it on Saturday at 8pm knowing
your little girl has a soccer game. You know what I mean? Like you're coming from a soccer game. Y'all gonna go eat pizza like y'all
do every, like, why would I do that? So I was very big on boundaries and
setting up that from the get go. And I also was one that was like, if
I have to lose the business, I have to lose the business because I also believe
there's 7 billion people in the world. And so when one leaves, one enters. They weren't the right people for me.
Yeah. And then one of the things you do too
is on Fridays, you have, you do what you call like your harder tasks and then yeah, so guys, I do theme days. I don't necessarily do time blocking,
but Mondays are team days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, call work Friday,
self care Fridays, but I do it backwards. So I'm not just taking a day off. But I do all my book, I have a
bookkeeper and I do all the receipts. So if you're trying, you know how you
have to upload the receipts or I'll go through my
Excel spreadsheet, looking
at accounting or forecast and all that sales and finance, the stuff that I wanted
to skip in business school, that they made me take like accounting and econ,
I was just there for the marketing, but you gotta take it to get the degree. So I do that on Fridays and then I end
with either a massage or my nails done or calling my friend and being chatty
Cathy, or, going to, you Lunch or dinner. But it's really like a free day. Again, I do the financial stuff. I'll set up m
y week for that. So I'll look at my calendar for
following and be like, what? What calls can I get out of? That's my, that was my
whole thing this year. I used to look at my calendar and
be like why am I taking this call? Why am I doing that? I don't need to do this. I don't need to, Oh, Ashley
can do this or Sasha can do this, or this can be an email. I don't need to schedule a call for that. So like I'm prepping for the week
and what is important, what are my three main focuses for the week? A
nd then I'm just, Chilling
out, relaxing, self care, nice. Listening to podcasts. Enjoying life. What do you wish people would have
told you that you would have known before you got started in travel that
you wish someone would have told you? If you build it, they will come
live straight from the day. You can build it. You can put a bow on it. You can wrap it up, send it
to the house, drop it off. You can make it look good. You can say all the things and
you still gonna be sitting here. That's w
hat you're gonna hear in a birds. Like it's not as easy as people think. Yeah. So I think, not that I thought business
owner was, you, this is the thing. Things. It's just like now social media, which
is why I have a love hate relationship. It's because you'll see people in
their traveling world and this and that, but you don't know they're broke. You don't know they
ain't making any money. You're thinking like, Oh, this is easy. Okay, all I got to do is this and that. And then you start doing i
t. And then you're like, This
is a disconnect because only people only show you highlights. They're not showing you
when they're up at night. I've been up at night plenty of times. I don't know how I'm going to pay this. Or now that I have a team, like I'm
not going to get paid, or freaking out, like what if nobody wants this
or no one does this curated trip, I got to sell this many spots. Like they don't get on
Instagram and talk about that. They just talk about, girl, my
trip is sold out and y
ou missed out and we are traveling the world. And then we start talking about numbers. They like, huh? So no one wants to share that. Yeah. So I wish somebody would tell me
like, no, Courtnie, you actually need to stay in fundraising because
you're going to get paid doing that. And if you don't know your numbers
and like really have a drill down, then you're not going to
do it because this is the thing. Travel is an expensive hobby. So if you're running your business
like a hobby, it's going to
cost you. Yeah, very much so not as much freebies and perks. Like people say that it is like, Oh,
you go in and stay free and you do this. And again, the stuff that is free is
like the stuff I can pay on my own. If that makes sense, like some of y'all
I'm like, I can go there on my own. Like, you get caught up
in, this is a fun industry. It's nice. It's sexy. It's like my husband's injury sports. Oh, he's a basketball coach. Yeah. Until somebody gets on
Twitter and says, fire him. And, you gotta
raise, you have to move every two years! You gotta move every year. Yeah. And it's fundraising and you gotta
coach and you gotta keep 17 and 18, 19 year olds without getting in trouble
and put the ball in the basket. Who would want that job? But no one talks about,
it's that's such a cool job. And the same thing with my job. That's such a good job. You get to travel. Oh, I wish I could do that. And half your job, like more than half
your job has nothing to do with travel. Yeah it's running a bu
siness and
there's a reason that there's a really high failure rate for businesses. It's because it's really hard,
especially in the beginning. If you're a 10 year old business. HAR is sitting much prettier now. We've built and established ourselves,
but the beginning is really tough. Yeah. You don't know what works either. You're literally just I've been
trying to just enjoy the process because again, it's, it'll be six
years in June full time, but seven years altogether, but like what works
ye
sterday might not work tomorrow. That's another thing. And no one has the secret roadmap to
success the way someone else did it versus someone else can look totally different. So you can't even model someone and get
the same results because what worked five years ago might not work or depending on
your territory, like that's another thing. There's not a, no one could
tell me like how to get it done. And I'm very like process and
goal and Oh, if you tell me the steps, I'm going to do it. Then I'm
going to get the same. No, that's not, so it's yeah, that's why I love these interviews
is because we take them from all sorts of different advisors from different
corners of the world and you can pull like what works for you and what speaks
to you because even if say you're in the exact same location, you're doing
the exact same steps of a person. You are not that person. And that is, that's at the heart of
the matter is no one else is you. And so don't try to be someone else. You gotta be you
and you gotta make your
business that works for you. And authenticity is what's gonna. Help you be successful, not
trying to be someone else. Let's see, we're going to move
into our last segment, which is our indispensable segment. And that's where we ask you
what technology book or person has been indispensable to
the growth of your agency. And why I know you gave us a huge list
earlier, but is there one that sticks out? Oh, man, I feel like I, I might've
said one before, but then I said now,
I feel like there's so many, okay. One person, one, I can't do one! You gotta do one Courtnie. Just one! In my business. Yes. I'm going to say my grand, my grand
has nothing to do in the travel industry because this is what she
did was she gave me principles. I know everybody's not religious, but
it's like the Bible, it's principled, like you utilizing your life. And so she was the blueprint. If there was a blueprint, whether it's
how you treat people when building relationships and even about s
aving
and spending and like when to invest. All that wise wisdom that, that
kind of fuels me every day. My personality, like going after
what you want, being confident. Cause I was tall. A lot of tall girls, they're not
confident, especially when they're kids. Cause they they don't want to be tall. And I was always like, stand up straight
and I'm smart and this and that. And so even in my business, a lot
of skills is your confidence and being able to step out and take risk. When it's not time. A
nd again, when you have a team,
also the empathy card, I know me and my husband were talking to the bed
and I was like, I could be hateful. Like I could. And then he even said, he's your grandma
would say, now I know how Courtnie can get some time, like just thinking
about things that she shared with me and in our mind and that I've taken. And so my business were
principles of raising a child. Like my mom died when
I was eight months old. She was like my mom. So just things that I took with her
that
I've been able to apply, like when to let something go, when to let someone
go, when they no longer serve you. It's like that Maya Angelou saying,
like when people show you who they are, the first time, believe them. My grandma could have wrote,
written a book on that. So like I would say that has nothing
because I'm giving you tons of like books and people that I've worked with. That are killing it. Brooke Olsen with the systems that
she's dubbed Tatiana with teams mindset, Jen, money, Ser
ena, but
like just overall is my grand. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense because
Building that foundation of confidence because it does take
confidence to be a business owner. If you're doubting yourself all the time
that's not a great base to build off of. And also like the financial smarts,
because you really do have to know finances to be a good business
owner, I have seen business owners that are terrible at finance. I just have to share this. The other day I was on a call with
someone and th
ey're like, I can't make ends meet at my agency stuff and
I'm chatting with them and I'm like, you should be able to make ends meet. Like the numbers you're telling me and
the expenses, like they should go and I was really confused and they were adamant
they could not make ends meet and that this was not a sustainable business model. And I was like, okay. And then I was chatting with someone
else that works with them and they were like, she pays herself a half
a million dollars for a salary. And
I was like she
conveniently left that out. I wish I would have known
that because that's the issue, right? Yeah, but it's that type of
stuff that people don't are even now that you are making money,
what do you do with that money? You know what I mean? Oh, is that going? I always tell people like my business
is just I can sell my business tomorrow. They're like, what? Oh, it's not my baby. I don't have children. I use my business as an asset. Me and my husband have overall goals. He has his job
. This is my business. We have property, there's several
different eggs or drops that like in the bucket that make up our complete thing. So this is just one feed, one string
that goes into the bigger picture. I don't look at this as the big picture. I have a whole life, a whole hood,
like we have a whole future in bed. This just plays into what are all
the goals and the dreams that we have as one, if that makes sense. It totally does. And I think that's also wise words for
entrepreneurs because
it's very easy as an entrepreneur to have Your whole self
and being be tied up into your company, which in some ways is very beautiful. But also, it's also just a company. And at some point you're going to
have to let the company go, sell it or, some things along those lines. And then, so it's important to
nurture outside of your business as well as yeah, find it, have
a self outside your business. That's super important. Courtnie, thank you so much
for all the inspiration and fun today during
the episode. Thank you. I thought you were going
to say something else. I'm like, okay. No, I appreciate it. All right. I'm a chatty Cathy, so I can stay
on for longer, but I know we've got to let the people take a breather. We do have to let the people
take a breather, but, and thank all of you for tuning in today. Just a reminder, don't forget the
survey is coming out, so keep an eye out or you can follow the link in the
show notes to get to the reminders. Again, you can go to Host
Agency Revi
ews.com/t. Click on episode 29. And if you've got time before we close
things out, we would love, love, love if you gave, if you're watching on
YouTube, give this a life, or if you're listening to this on your favorite podcast
platform give it a review or a rating. So we will be back with
another advisor story in Q. I can't believe it'll be Q3. Q3. So make sure to subscribe
so you don't miss out. Thank you everyone. And thank you, Courtnie, and have
a wonderful rest of your day. You can read a t
ranscript, view
the show notes and watch a video of today's episode all in one place. Head on over to hostagencyreviews. com slash TAC and click on episode 29. You'll also find some great
pictures of Courtnie on her travels and within her life in the
transcript, we'll see you there.
Comments
Courtnie is truly an inspiration. I just love her energy, enthusiasm and business acumen. I need to watch this video again and again!
so beautiful