Did you know…
that 1 in every 4 agents in Canada works from home?
The landscape is changing rapidly in the travel
industry worldwide and Canada is no exception.
It used to be that if you wanted to sell travel, you
had to work either in a travel agency or a call
centre. In fact, in Ontario, that was the law. You
could not operate from home.
Well all that has changed over the past 15 years
or so, to the point where almost 25% of all
Canadian travel agents are home based.
In the U.S., when the economy was hit hard in
2008, many travel agencies closed and this left a
lot of agents with some tough decisions about
their careers. Many of them chose to go homebased and today, it is estimated that over 50% of
all travel agents in the U.S. work from home.
By Jill Wykes
When you talk to home based agents and ask
them why they made the decision to work for
themselves, the answers are usually the same.
They like the control it gives them over
everything from what hours they work, to what
to sell and how to service their customers. They
like selecting their own marketing strategies.
They love not having to commute to work! They
can earn more and keep more of their earnings.
Most of all, they all have a great sense of
accomplishment in their own success, knowing
they are fully responsible for their results and
feeling huge pride of ownership.
The same is true in the UK, about 50% of agents
are home based.
That is an astounding shift! Given the UK and US
percentages, it is expected that Canada’s home
based group will grow to reach the 50% level too
in the coming decade.
This series will explore the huge opportunity for
Canadian travel agents to go into business for
themselves.
We will discuss why this is
happening, all the how-to details, advice on
many aspects of running your own business,
everything from how to deal with your family, to
how to set up your accounting records, to
work/life balance.
Running your own business and being your own
boss have many rewards, especially if you have
all the right support systems in place, and the
tools to do your job well.
Brought to you by The Travel Agent Next Door