Cruise Travel Home Business:

You’ve gone on your first or your 100th cruise and loved it. Did you ever consider starting a cruise travel agency? You enjoy the searching for the perfect cruise for yourself and everyone around you. You like setting up and taking care of all the arrangements. If this sounds exciting and fun, why not profit from it, and start your own travel agency.

The travel industry currently shows $4 trillion annually spent in flights, cruises, cars, hotels and more. The amount is expected to continue growing as more people are living in two-income families and have access to more money. Why not take part of the $4 trillion for yourself, and let your travel home business pay for your next cruise.

If you have considered starting a home business, but are afraid to quit your full-time job, a travel home business is just right for you. You can start the business part time, and expand it slowly or quickly. No matter what the reason, this is a pajama job that will grow quickly and show results almost immediately.

Starting a cruise travel home business does have start up costs. Depending on the route you take to open your business will affect the start up cost of your home business, however, many have only minimal costs. These start up costs include national organization fees, software fees, and possibly affiliation fees, depending on how you want to work your business. You have many options available.

The first step is to start researching the the industry. Check out all websites and books published by National Organizations affiliated with travel and cruise agents, such as the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents. These resources will give you information on affiliation with a parent travel agency as an independent contractor, and steps on how to pursue a travel home business from the ground up.

Either way you decide to go, it is best to create a brief general business plan. You can download a sample business plan from the Small Business Administration website, or go to the local office for a copy. This plan will help you understand what you will need to do to be successful and how to budget for profit. This plan is dynamic and ever changing and should be updated frequently.

Becoming affiliated with a large travel agency gives your business a few benefits. Some of the benefits include the reservation software training, support, updates, newsletters, and industry best practices. They have established industry connections all you need to do is find travelers.

Your travel agency will usually take off quickly, when associated with a large parent travel agency. You do not have to worry about setting prices for your services either. The parent company will set the prices and you will receive up to 50% of each reservation you book. This takes the anxiety and frustration out of worrying about profits and losses you have to contend with when setting your own prices.

The other option requires more work. You research reservation software, and talk to companies within the industry to establish connections. This option can have a higher start up cost and will take longer to show a profit for two main reasons. Until you get comfortable with the pricing of your services, you will have a trial and error phase that can create losses to your cruise travel agency. But once you get the hang of it, the profit is yours. Second, you have to contact hotels, car rental companies, airlines, cruise lines, and such and build relationships, which can take time.

However, it is not important which way you decide to start your travel agency. You will receive benefits as well as profits. These benefits may be better if you work with a travel agency but you get benefits either way. These benefits include up to 50% discounts on hotels and vacation packages, up to 70% discount on cruises, and much more.

If you decide to expand your travel agency to include other types of travel, it is much easier when associated with a larger travel agency. If you built your cruise travel home business yourself, you will need to make more contacts and create new relationships to be able to compete.

Now you have some information about a cruise travel home business. You need to look at industry periodicals, books, and websites to decide on your next step. In any event, this cruise travel home business will have your vacations and cruises paid for by your clients at discounted rates. For those who love to travel this business is perfect.

By: Randy Wilson

About the Author:

Kansieo.com

As a travel agent business owner, you may well be in the grips of a terrible disease -

“toomanyhoursism”

1st very important question: “If you looked clearly at your past month at work, how many hours have you averaged per week at work?”

2nd very important question to maximize success: “How many hours did you spend per week working on the income producing side of your business?”

Working sixty or seventy or even eighty hours per week is not necessarily wrong. There are many great outcomes you can attribute to “hard work”. Short bursts of sustained effort can be just what are needed. But my challenge is if you are consistently working seventy plus hours a week, you are in reality sacrificing other areas of life continuously.

It maybe relationship or family time you end up sacrificing. It may be you are missing out on just getting enough rest and relaxation. You may be missing sporting or social events. And this insidious disease can keep going for years and year and years causing damage to every area except our work.

As a business coach I have seen this “disease” create unrest in many business owners lives. It is something we have to guard against and have a plan of attack to make sure the other important areas of life receive attention.

This survey below will give you a dose of reality around where you are right now with your work practices in your travel agent business.

How many hours a week do you work in your travel agent business?

a. Less than 25
b. 26 – 40
c. 41 – 50
d. 51 – 70
e. 71 or more

Do you work at all on weekends?

a. Never
b. A few times a year
c. Once a month
d. Most weekends
e. Always

How many holidays (excluding weekends) will you take this year?

a. More than fourteen days
b. 10 – 14 days
c. 5 – 9 days
d. 1 – 4 days
e. None

What is your personal income before tax?

a. Over $250,000 p/a
b. $150,000 – $249,999 p/a
c. $80,000 – $149,999 p/a
d. $40,000 – $ 79,999 p/a
e. Less than $40,000

In the past year, you have missed family/personal events due to work…

a. Never
b. Rarely
c. Occasionally
d. Regularly
e. Always

You put work ahead of pleasure and relaxation …

a. Never
b. Because you started business within the past year and are still setting up
c. Because you can’t afford to employ others at the moment
d. To save costs and beat competition, or because of price conscious customers
e. Because you’re the only one that can do the job properly

The toll your profession has taken on your personal life, now and in the past, includes…

a. None
b. Your free time
c. Your personal satisfaction
d. Your physical health
e. Your marriage or relationship

Your tombstone will no doubt say…

a. Party on
b. World’s best Parent and/or Partner
c. Achieved a great balance of work & play
d. Should have stopped and smelled the roses
e. Success at any cost

Now let us check your results

Let us add all your answers up using the following formula:

A = 0 points
B = 1 point
C = 2 points
D = 3 points
E = 4 points

15 to 32 points

Professional help is required for you to understand that life and travel agent business are two separate entities and having a plan of attack is crucial. The symptoms won’t go away on their own; regardless of how often you kid yourself it’s only for a few more weeks / months / years. You’re very likely on the brink of some serious trouble health wise and probably on the home front too. If you have a family… don’t be surprised if your house key doesn’t open the front door one day soon.

9 – 14 points

You are on your way to achieving balance but there is still a lot to do. You need to look at ways to improve each business activity and strategy to make sure your tactics achieve maximum effectiveness. Some simple changes will have a great effect on your time management and stress levels.

Get some help and encouragement to build your vision of the future from positive people such as your coach. See life after work, set a dollar value on your time and be aware of when you are doing tasks you could pay others less, to do.

5 – 8 points

You are doing well; you probably have systems in place to give you confidence that your team can complete tasks up to your standard. You have realised there is more to life than work, and that you only have one life made up of finite time and you want to make it count.

You have confidence that your clients get a great return on their investment and refuse to sabotage yourself with discounts and write-offs. Now is not the time to ‘lose the plot’, stay focussed and get an outside view of your business now and again as a ‘reality check’.

0 – 4 points

Congratulations: you are a true entrepreneur with an exceptional understanding of balance and what success in life is all about. That is working hard and enjoying all aspects of life and not letting your travel agent business become your only passion.
The important thing now is you are aware of where you are on the work/ life scale and can do something about rectifying any imbalance. Good luck.

By: Brian Jackway

About the Author:

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