I bought a Rocking Chair...

For anyone outside the travel world, Gold Travel Counsellors are the top performing 12% worldwide.

So it's a lovely achievement. I had a little grin, my husband started humming Spandau Ballet at me, thinking he was just hilarious, and then I got straight back to work. 

The thing people don't always see about running a business like mine is that the work is relentless, and most of it happens behind the scenes.  It isn't a 9-5 job with an off switch. It's early mornings sorting out flight check-ins and late nights answering the "quick question" (that is never quick).  And constant problem-solving when a flight gets cancelled and a trip needs to be rebuilt on a Saturday night, just as I was about to go out-out!

And there's the research, the quoting, the chasing, the paperwork, the attention to detail.  And the constant keeping up with a world that changes by the hour. It is a lot.

So, if you think I do all of that to chase 'Gold', you'd be wrong. Gold was never my goal, no vision board, no spreadsheet detailing how I'd get there.  My goal has always been much simpler, but actually much harder. I wanted to build a business where the client comes first, every single time. Where people feel looked after from the first "we fancy going away" message right through to the moment they walk back through their own front door. I always figured if I could get that bit right, the rest would follow.  And it turns out that it does.

 When you put clients first, they trust you. When they trust you, they come back. Then they tell their friends, who tell their friends. The bookings come, the referrals come, and the repeat business appears.  And that, and that, apparently, is how you end up running a Gold business.  It was never chased; it is just a happy by-product of building a business I love.

And as a side-note, I had a lot of people ask me 'ooh are you going to treat yourself to celebrate?'.  I know others that have treated themselves to a little holiday, or a designer bag, or something special as a reward.  I did too.  I bought a rocking chair.  A comfy, soft, lovely rocking chair.  And that probably tells you all you need to know about me!

Right. Back to it.

Debbie x