The Turning Point That Led to Cruise Business Blueprint

Sometimes I laugh when I think about how hard I worked to make sure everyone knew I didn’t only sell cruises.  I did this for years, only to finally realize that…I only wanted to sell cruises.  So, why did I fight it?

One big lie I told myself was that I couldn’t make enough money if I didn’t sell everything.  The scarcity mindset was deeply ingrained, and I just couldn’t turn down an inquiry, even if it made me want to throw up.

Another HUGE lie I told myself (that was reinforced by some others) was that “real” travel advisors focused on custom itineraries.  If you were selling big box, you were simply an order taker.  What a silly thing to believe.

So, I focused on what I thought I needed to do to be a “real” travel advisor…and I hated it.  I never felt the confidence and ease that I found when selling cruises, while booking any other type of trip, and I never felt like the money was as good when I factored in the time spent and stress invested.  I never felt like an expert in anything because I was spreading myself too thin.

Thankfully, I finally came to my senses and freed myself from that trap.  Now my business is easy and fun, and it gives me the freedom I was looking for when I started it.  And there is no doubt that I am known as the cruise expert in my circle.

In the meantime, I had also started Travel Biz Boss, and I was learning about how many members of our amazing community had also been telling themselves a bunch of lies that were keeping them small.  They were trapped, too.  I wanted to help.

If you’ve been in this business for any length of time, you know that training resources are pretty generic.  Supplier webinars are like infomercials that do teach you a lot about products, but not how to sell, how to retain clients, how to leverage technology to make your job easier, how to protect yourself, and all of the other things we need to know as business owners.  Trying to learn from FB groups is like trying to navigate a field of landmines.  You have no idea if the information you are getting is solid, and people tear you apart for asking a question “the wrong way”. 

I had been collaborating with other creators to build better training, but it wasn’t feeling great.  It wasn’t going deep enough to really make a difference.  Because we were focusing on everything, nothing was top-tier.  Sound familiar?  It’s the same circle I traveled in my travel biz, but this time I didn’t spend years figuring it out.  I realized that I could provide a level of cruise education that has never existed before.  If I focused on just cruise sales, I could pour my entire (successful) career into it.  I could be laser-focused on changing the narrative around what it means to be a cruise specialist, and I could help others get focused, make more money than they thought, and have the business they always dreamed of.

I’ve never been afraid to experiment, so I have the experience to know what works and what doesn’t.  I’ve also sold more than $25m in cruises.  Not as an order taker, but as an expert matchmaker, who helps clients get the experience they are looking for and make memories that become stories they will tell for years.

I decided to take all of my experience (and all of my nerdy tech side), and put it into a platform where advisors who want to grow their cruise business, or even just be able to sell cruises confidently when they get an inquiry, can go to learn what they need and leave what they don’t.  And what an incredible experience it has been.  It is the love of my professional life, and I wake up every morning, excited to create more resources for my members.