Home-based Travel Agents may enjoy the flexible hours and solo business path, but every now and then it helps to come together and share ideas, according to these five Brisbane-based Travel Agents.
Whilst some may consider the ten to twenty kilometer distance apart from each other as being competitive territory, personal travel managers (PTMs) Cassandra Zayonce, Erin Ross, Georgina Grandi, Annette Fyfe and Amanda Brad, see it as the complete opposite.
The fivesome frequently come together to connect, support each other and collectively grow their individual businesses.
“I love the flexibility home-based provides me and I enjoy working independently, but every once in a while I need to have face to face human contact.”
Cassandra Zayonce
“The internet forums and our PTM facebook page are fantastic yet I still find the need to get out of the office and connect with others who are in a similar position to me.
“It’s great to be able to bounce ideas off each other. Sometimes, when you are working on your own all the time, it’s easy to get stuck in the same way of doing things without realising that there is a better way out there.
“We also all have different skill sets and can share them with each other, making us all stronger as a team. We may be individual business owners but we all have each other’s backs.”
Brady agrees wholeheartedly, saying they often organise topics to discuss such as Google forms, or managing emails, and then combine ideas to come up with new ways to manage their businesses.
“Other times we just work on our own client files and then bounce ideas across the table. We have a lot of fun, laughter and of course a sneaky lunch,” Brady added.
TravelManagers’ Executive General Manager Michael Gazal applauded their efforts, saying they’re an example of how the business works so well together.
“Their relationship epitomizes TravelManagers’ philosophy of PTMs working collectively together to provide the ultimate travel experience for our customers,” he said.
“We recognize each PTM has strengths in different areas and actively support and encourage each other to further grow their individual businesses and foster mutual success.”