Steps to Take...
Step 1: Evaluate Your Expenses
Typically, people plan travel 6-9 months in advance. We do not get paid until people travel, so you need to plan to cover the gap from when you lose your stable salary, to when you start getting paid.
First, figure out exactly how much you need to live for 6 months. Take into account everything you could possibly need to spend within that time frame, including, but not limited to:
- Mortgage or rent
- Housing needs such as electricity, water, internet, cable, etc.
- Home insurance
- Car note and car insurance
- Healthcare and medical expenses
- Childcare or educational expenses
- Average food spend
- Average clothing spend
- Gifts for birthdays, holidays, etc.
- Pets food and medical needs
Your total expense number for 6 months is X.
You then need to figure out what income may actually be on the books already. Do you have any trips that will travel after you quit your full-time job?? If so, that income number is Y.
X-Y= Savings
You will need to have this amount in your savings account on the day you quit your job, unless...
Step 2: Evaluate Your Support
We're not all in the same boat here. Some people have significant others that are willing and capable of floating the family while you get your business off of the ground.
Some people already have a healthy savings account built up or they have current salaries that are way above their needs and they could easily save up the proper amount prior to quitting their job.
But some of us don't have the safety net and if that is you, then you need to strictly follow the steps below.
Step 3: Set Your Goals
This is a difficult one as many people aren't sure where to start. My suggestion would be to start large and work your way into a monthly and then daily goal.
For instance, let's say my number is $50,000 for the year. Great, I've got a goal. Now what?
Well, I need to have a strategy around where that money will come from so I will know exactly when I'm falling behind. The first step is really evaluating what you anticipate your average trip costing and what your average commission amount will be. If you do not know, the industry averages $3500 for a trip with 10% commission. However, these numbers can vary widely. My agency as a whole averaged over 14% commission last year and that makes a big difference in your commissions.
Then, you need to decide what your conversion rate is, meaning how many leads do you need to close a sale. I find that trips that you have done a full consultation on will convert around 75%. So if I have 20 consultations in Q1, I will close 15 trips, which will be about $52,500 (15 trips times $3500/trip) in sales and about $5,250 in commission.
You get the idea.
Break down your large yearly total, into manageable monthly goals and work your way backwards to figure out how many consultations you need to do each month. Take into account that August and December tend to be slow times in our industry, but January through April are very busy. I would suggest making your monthly goal significantly higher in the beginning of the year than in the end.
Step 4: Define Your Lead Funnels
Now that you know how many consultations you need each month, where in the world are you going to get those hot leads?? This is where your leads funnels come into place. A lead funnel is simply an area that you will create a strategy for getting hot leads.
For instance, community engagement, referrals, and social media can all be lead funnels for you. Have a plan in place for each funnel to make sure they are driving you enough leads.
For your community engagement funnel, you may decide to go to 2 networking luncheons every month and one volunteer event. Put them on the calendar.
For referrals, you may decide that you will reach out to 5 people every week and ask for a referral.
For social media, you may decide to do a video series where you answer frequently asked questions every Monday to position yourself as the expert in travel.
What other sources of leads do you have?
Step 5: Evaluate Your Habits
Now you have a pretty good business plan in place. Next we have to see what has been holding you back in the past. Do you have set work hours even thought this is a hobby? Do you have systems in place to make you efficient? Do you utilize the right technology to grow your business? Do you follow a particular schedule for how you're going to increase your education on a particular area of the world?
Build your business strong enough to move into full time. Build the right habits, educations, systems and processes, etc.
I personally have my advisors follow a system called 31 points to success where they track what they do each day to earn points. We are gamifying the system and therefore making the hustle more fun! Contact me if you want to see our point system!
Step 6: Ramp Up!
When you're ready to take this gig seriously, you need to commit yourself. I have my advisors commit to 20 hours a week working part time for 6 full months before going full time. Yes, that means they're working over 60 hours a week with their other full time jobs.
Then, I have them block those 20 hours onto the calendar so they know exactly when they're going to be working and when they can spend their time relaxing. It's important to have a game plan and to stick to it. Respect your calendar and your business will grow.