The honest to goodness truth.
As a Travel Agent or as I prefer to call myself, a Travel Ambassador, the struggle to compete in an online, click friendly world of travel is challenging at best. Truth be told, I've often wondered why more people aren't flocking to Viva la Vida Travel. Am I trying too hard? What am I doing wrong? I've struggled with my approach to business, my marketing, my focus group of clients and how to "find them" and have compared myself to other agents time and time again only to feel discouraged by my seemingly lack of "success" in the market.
I'm not nor have I ever been a one size fits all kind of a woman. I've never fit into any prescribed mold and have tended to follow my hearts passion when it comes to work and life in general. Is that always the most lucrative way to be in this day and age? Hardly. Is it respected? Maybe. Is it what I know how to do? Yes. Does it work for me in my business? That depends on how you look at it.
The goal of any business owner is to make a living doing what they love and feel passionate about. The ultimate goal is to make money. Money. It's the measure of success in any business and by that measure, Viva la Vida Travel is hardly a success. That's a hard pill to swallow.
I began this business with the deep desire to help people expand themselves positively using travel as a catalyst for personal change and global consciousness. I have and always will be a person who promotes cultural competency, tolerance, personal and spiritual growth, etc. , it's how I am hard wired to function in this world. That being said, a friend and colleague of mine once said to me, " Like a preacher, you can preach to the people all you want but if they aren't ready to hear the message, your words fall on dead ears." Those words resonated with me deeply and I began to realize that no matter how hard I try to bring people and potential travelers to the place of understanding the true value of travel on ones soul, if they aren't ready to hear it, my words become background noise. That's the challenge for me in this business ~ learning how to be as authentic and true to myself and sharing my approach to travel with the masses and hoping that it resonates with people AND still make a living at what I love to do. I understand that people come into their own in their own time and there is no forcing anyone to do anything they are not prepared to do. I learned this over and over again in my social work career ~ that phrase, "You can bring a horse to water but you can't make them drink" ran true over and over and over again then and now. Does it mean I'll stop preaching? Nope. I can't because when I believe something to be true and important to hear and experience, I have to share the message.
I'm incredibly proud of my business, albeit it a small agency . My client base is small but I will have to say that the clients I have had the privilege of serving have been of substantial quality and that means something to me. My integrity in this business world has not been sacrificed for just making a sale but instead by offering up the best and most personalized service I can offer my clients.
I've often thought of throwing in the towel and giving up because by all comparisons, Viva la Vida Travel just isn't "making it." Last week I went to a sales conference and had the privilege of listening to Brian Smith, Founder of UGG boots speak about his experience in creating the UGG company. He spoke of his trials, his tribulations and his set backs and just how long it took to bring his dream to fruition ~ and it was a long time coming, but it happened in a big way. His resilience in the face of hopelessness gave me hope for my own business. His ending message was this, " Do all things in love" and he couldn't have been more spot on. Love WHAT you do, love WHY you do it, love WHO you do it with and love WHO you do it for. I can honestly say that I love what I do. I've got a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do yet, but I love helping people and listening to their dreams and goals and better yet, helping them bring those dreams and goals to life. It matters to me. It's what I need to do in this lifetime. I'll keep preaching, keep teaching, keep traveling and keep inspiring those who need the inspiration to to take big leaps in their lives because it all matters.
The struggle is real, folks, it really is, but the payoff for not selling out to make a buck is worth more than it's weight in gold. That which needs to unfold and grow will and I won't stop trying until I get there. Thank you for those of you who have supported me along the way; my gratitude runs deep.
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