HOW I CARRY ON >>> MATT WAHLGREN
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Connecting outside of travel Wahlgren ’ s travel agency is also a Certified LGBT Business Enterprise through the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce . He learned about this certification when he was on the board of the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce Silicon Valley .
“ That was my project during the pandemic last year . I decided to lay the groundwork to further build my business ,” he says . The certification helps get his agency in front of B2B clients so businesses will use his services for their events like conferences and off-site meetings in other countries .
There was an application process for him to get this certification , but his experience with the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce helped move him along in the process .
Wahlgren sees this certification as valuable not only for the business it brings him , but for the networking it ’ s made possible for him . “ If that ’ s something you ’ re interested in , I would definitely get that and start building those connections if you want to work with other businesses to sell travel . It ’ s a great way to get outside of the industry ,” he says .
There are certifications like the LGBT one , but for other communities of business owners . The Women ’ s Business Enterprise National Council certifies women-owned businesses ( and is what the LGBT certification was modeled after ), National Minority Supplier Development Council certifies minority-owned businesses and Disability : IN is a nonprofit organization that certifies disability-owned business enterprises , veteran disability-owned business enterprises and service-disabled veteran disability-owned business enterprises .
“ It ’ s important to get a perspective outside of the industry and see how people run their business ,” Wahlgren says . “ You learn from them in a different way .”
Una casa nueva The roller-coaster ride that was 2020 inspired Wahlgren and his partner to do another big thing . “ We just thought , it ’ s been a crazy year , we might as well get crazy , too ,” he says .
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So in August 2020 , they sold their house in San Jose , California , and moved to Puerto Vallarta , Mexico .
“ It was a really awesome experience , especially in those beginning months because nobody was there ,” he says . “ And we could just walk around town and explore . Oftentimes there are a lot of tourists and it ’ s really busy , so it was nice to see the city when it ’ s quiet .”
Then in February 2021 , they sensed that things were slowly returning back to normal , so they moved back to the U . S ., settling just outside of Dallas . Find Wahlgren ’ s agency online at matt . travel .
Matt is so nice , we interviewed him twice ! Turn to page 56 for Matt ’ s expertise on booking wine country .
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