Do you wonder what I do?
Because my office is at home my dad thinks I sit in the garden all day! This blog gives a taste of a ‘typical day’ although no two days are ever the same!
I normally get up and go downstairs, make a cuppa and go straight to my desk in my office in my dressing gown! If I’m busy it’s often lunchtime before I head back upstairs to get dressed!
I check and respond to lots of customer messages that come through from Facebook, email and my website.
I search for customer holidays which can be anything from a UK short break to a round the world cruise. Complicated trips can take a while to put together and I search through a wide range of suppliers to ensure I have found the best options. Recent interesting tailor-made packages have included The Azores and Lisbon and a trip to Kenya. I love putting together interesting trips, sometimes these are once in a lifetime trips and I feel privileged to help make these peoples dreams come true.
I spend time finding out information for my customers who have already booked; a recent request was to see how much it is to take a guitar on the plane-the airline charges for a whole seat , wonder if the guitar gets a meal?!I might book sightseeing trips, car parking or seats on the plane, there are lots of ‘little things’ that I can arrange that make the trip smoother and more enjoyable.
I spend time keeping up to date with industry developments, I have recently attended a New Zealand specialists day in London and a Kuoni Experts workshop in Birmingham. I complete online trainings and read travel publications, even after 30 years you never know everything!
I make sure all my customers have their holiday documents before they travel, check them in if necessary, advise airlines/hotels of special requirements. I also love hearing about people’s holidays so always contact my customers when they come back.
I’m a member of a few business networking groups so I attend meetings around once a week. This allows me to share news about my business and hear from other business owners. This is where I learned about Me&Dee, the charity I am fundraising for this year. http://www.meanddee.co.uk/ So far I have raised around £900 and hope to get this to £1500 which will give 5 families a much deserved break.
I’m also president of a local Women’s Institute group, Burton Belles. I help to arrange our social events, charity fundraising and activities for our monthly meetings. I love my ladies, we have been on several cruises together, enjoyed theatre trips, walks and meals out. We also work hard to support local charities and projects which is very satisfying. So I may spend a little time arranging something for the ladies.
Around 3 times a week I manage to get away from my desk to take part in a yoga or fitness class at my local health club for an hour or so and on a Monday evening I’m learning how to ballroom dance so my phone will be off whilst I foxtrot or cha cha!
Once I’ve dealt with all my customers’ enquiries and bookings I look for offers to advertise, write my newsletters and blogs on my website and plan my diary.
I never work a set 9-5 Mon-Fri, sometimes I work 7am-10pm whilst other days I take some time off, and it just depends on my workload. I love to get away so I try to do this as much as possible, this helps my customers as I improve my destination knowledge, I never really switch off when I’m away-I’ll often do live videos or share my pictures.
I love what I do and couldn’t imagine doing anything else
Wendy
