From Iraq to Fiji: How Her Honeymoon Changed Her Life

Today we are joined by an amazing woman, Brenda Jama.

Brenda is a marketing and business strategist with a passion for helping traveling to create successful, recession-proof businesses.

But that's who she is today.

What made me so interested in Brenda?

It's her story.

Joining the United States Army as the result of a bet in high school, Brenda would go on to serve 24 years of the service.

And then she would find her path going the way of launching a very successful luxury travel agency specializing in romance travel.

And then, lo and behold, she found a way in which she could combine both of her past careers to create the amazing company she has today.

Market Your Say.

So, if you're ready, let's do this thing.

Here's Brenda.

Hey guys, welcome back to another interview here on the Lowdown on Life and Travel podcast.

I am here today with Brenda Jamis.

Brenda, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Kevin.

I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02: Well, wonderful.

Well, I'm a big fan of yours.

I've attended different webinars that you have done.

I've been a big fan of yours.

I know who you are, but will you tell everyone listening who in the world Brenda Jamis is?

SPEAKER_01: Oh man.

Well, I am Brenda.

I am originally from Puerto Rico.

I went and served in the military for 24 years.

Then I turned to a travel agent.

I own a romance travel agency.

And then I turned a marketing slash business strategist.

And I've done a little bit of everything in between.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

That's awesome.

Now, so you said you were in the, was it the army that you were in?

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

U.S.

Army.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

Yeah.

And you said 24 years?

24 years.

Wow.

So did you go into the service right out of school?

SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.

I actually signed up the month after I turned 17.

So my mom actually had to sign the for her permission to let me go.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

That's awesome.

Now, so I mean you had a very a long time in the Army.

I mean, I I think of a lot of people just go and they do their two years and then they they get out.

So would you mind sharing what what roles did you play, you know, in the service?

SPEAKER_01: Sure.

So when I first joined the military, which I might add, I actually I actually joined over a bet with a classmate.

We we we went into the counselor's office and they had some brochures and we kind of took a bet.

Oh, I bet you will call the recruiter, I bet you will.

And I ended up calling, she didn't, and here I was, you know, 20-some years later, but it's all good.

But I signed up as to be as an executive admin assistant.

I didn't know much then about anything.

So I'm like, okay, whatever job you give me, I'm fine.

Well, but that turned into human resources.

And because of the, I would say before that, when I was an executive admin, it was like the filler job, like wherever they needed somebody, that was the job that you went and did.

And so I say that to say that I ended up always in positions uh in operations.

So planning, making things happen.

Uh and and then even when I became a human resources specialist, I still was HR within operations world.

SPEAKER_02: That's also now in that role, did you deploy overseas?

SPEAKER_01: I did.

I deployed, I I had the fortune to spend a beautiful year in Baghdad, Iraq, back in 2010.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

That's awesome.

So one of uh I actually have two cousins who have been in the army.

And the one I was actually just speaking with a couple of days ago, and he was saying that over there in Iraq, he was telling me that it's actually absolutely beautiful, the land over there.

SPEAKER_01: So there it is amazing because the land land-wise, right, Iraq is huge.

And the people on the north in the geography, I mean, the north is totally different than the rest of the country.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

SPEAKER_01: And so they do they have beautiful mountains, beautiful greenery.

Unfortunately, where I was, I was in the city, I was in Baghdad itself, and the only color I saw was sand and dirt.

SPEAKER_02: It sounds gorgeous.

Come on.

SPEAKER_01: Oh, you know, it's amazing because the only thing that I really missed was flowers.

I missed flowers so bad.

I wanted color.

I wanted flowers.

We had a little patch of grass, but but nothing like trees.

And so it's it's amazing the little things that you miss when you don't have them.

SPEAKER_02: Of course, of course.

That's I think that speaks to a whole nother topic is you know, you you don't appreciate things until you don't have it.

And so it's, you know, it's those little things like that.

So that's awesome.

So I you have to know how in the world did you go from transitioning from 24 years in the service to the role of a travel agent and now to your current role where you're working with other travel agents?

Because that seems like a really big change in careers.

SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, Kevin, it's it's really not, and I'll explain.

When I was in the military when I first started as an executive assistant, I worked for general officers, and part of my job was to make sure that their travel arrangements were set and their all of their logistics were set.

And then when I deployed to Iraq, part of my role was actually to ensure that I received or I got our uh coordinate the arrival of our personnel and the departure, which also include included country clearances and included military flights, that kind of thing.

So it's c it was travel a little bit, but it was obviously in the military side.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Okay, so now I'm starting to see the connection.

That's pretty wild.

SPEAKER_01: Exactly, exactly.

And then when I deployed, you know, the only thing that you can do while you're deployed is work.

And we worked 12 to 15 to 18 hours a day, depending on what was going on.

And I had recently became engaged when I was deployed, so my outlet was to plan my destination wedding and honeymoon while I was deployed.

SPEAKER_02: Woo! Well, that sounds nice.

SPEAKER_01: Right.

So, you know, every time I got became frustrated or every time things were a little dangerous outside, I'll just go and fantasize about travel.

SPEAKER_02: Yes.

SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, that gave me an outlet.

So I planned my destination wedding.

We had a very small wedding to Vegas, actually.

We had guests, we we did an entire beautiful long weekend.

But then when it came to my honeymoon, I started getting recommendations from other brides for travel agents because at that point I was frustrated.

I was like, look, I want to go to Fiji.

This is what I want to do.

And I couldn't find a travel agent to save my life.

And so, yeah, I ended up having to plan it myself.

But when I came back from my honeymoon, I was like, you know what?

I can totally do this.

I'll just be a travel agent.

I'll open my own agency.

Well, that was easier said than done.

I didn't realize how hard that would be.

SPEAKER_02: Of course.

It always sounds glamorous when we first have the thought, you know?

SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.

You know, it took me about a year to find out because all I could see online were like, you know, yeah, you know, the card meals that we hear about, right?

But I was like, no, there's gotta be a more legitimate way to do this.

And so I tell you, I tweeted, I remember.

I tweeted and I was like, oh my God, what does one have to do to become a travel agent?

Like, do I need another security clearance or something?

Like, is this top secret?

And and somebody emailed, actually tweeted me back, replied to my tweet, and they told me, contact this guy.

And it was actually Corey Andrichuk up in Canada.

And I reached out to him, and he was a travel agent coach or or business coach at the time.

He's now doing something else within the industry, but that's how I got my start in the industry.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Well, that's pretty wild.

So now I see why, because once you finally opened your agency, you specialized in romance travel, isn't that right?

SPEAKER_01: Exactly.

I, you know, I just knew that that was my experience.

I saw a need, and I could totally relate to the target market, right?

So that's that's why I what I specialize in, yes.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

Now, now before we get too far past it though, I have to ask, was the destination wedding and honeymoon everything you had dreamed it would be?

SPEAKER_01: Yes, you know, it really was.

We had an amazing time.

I had maybe 11 guests, which was really small, but we had a blast.

And in my honeymoon, oh my God, I fell in love with Fiji to this day, is one of my favorite places in the world.

SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.

It sounds out of this world to me.

So it's definitely on my bucket list.

So you should go.

SPEAKER_01: Totally go.

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Oh, I'm I'm ready.

I'm ready.

Right now, in the midst of coronavirus chaos, I'm ready to go anywhere.

SPEAKER_01: So I tell you, I and I know, you know, like you, many people are, believe it or not.

But I will tell you one thing, though.

I would not go anywhere without a travel agent these days.

I think it's just as important as travel insurance.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

I agree 100%.

I think I think that, you know, you always don't realize how important something is until something, you know, tragic happens.

And I think, you know, our our industry definitely showed our our value in the midst of all of this chaos, that is for certain.

So now, though, you you came back, you got out of the service, you started up your own travel agency.

Now, do you still have that or no?

SPEAKER_01: No.

SPEAKER_02: So I Because I know you do do coaching and stuff for other travel agents.

SPEAKER_01: Right.

So I transitioned out of that.

I actually started the agency.

I was still in the military, so I was doing it very much part-time, but I was hoping that it would be my retirement business.

And I had some life changes, some personal things happen, so I decided to shutter the the travel agency, and I actually took some time off of the industry altogether.

But before I did that, actually, it it was kind of organic how you know I started to have a lot of success with my agency, and I just started helping other agents just because that's what I do, right?

It's part of the it and then I go back to my military training where we mentor and we care for other people.

And I saw that as an extension of that, you know, let me mentor other agents that may have questions about social media or sales or this or that, and and it just became organic.

And before you know it, I would go to travel conferences and everybody knew who I was, and I was a little embarrassed because I wasn't sure who they were, but everybody knew my name.

And then I started speaking and at conferences, and I just loved it.

And it is just an extension of, like I said, my military training, uh, where I was in charge of leading people, training people, mentoring them, caring for them.

I I don't see this as being that big of a departure.

SPEAKER_02: Yes, of course, of course.

So now is that what you are slowly doing now with IFET.

SPEAKER_01: Yes, sorry.

Yes, it is.

I, you know, I I I fantasize about booking travel every day and then and then I don't.

Yep.

You know, there's so many you guys are doing an awesome job.

I I feel like I am finally where I should be in the industry, and I have a network of amazing travel agents that if anybody ever asks me for travel, I just refer them to one of my amazing clients or, you know, friends.

So it's it's awesome.

It works beautifully.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Well, I can be a uh pure testimony to the trainings that you offer because because I have attended several of your different webinars that you have offered, and that's how, I mean, that's how I got to know you and learned, you know, who you were.

And, you know, that's that's a very big industry, is not only the travel agent industry, but the the coaching and the training.

And goodness knows I've attended my sh fair share of webinars.

And, you know, there's some that are are good, you get a lot out of, and then there's those that are just they click.

They're spectacular.

And I have to say that every one of yours that I've ever attended are one of those where you get like this nugget of gold out of it that you weren't even expecting when you first, you know, tuned into your training, and you're like, man, this lady's on it.

SPEAKER_01: So thank you so much, Kimberly.

But I'm gonna put you to test.

What has been the biggest nugget that you have learned from me?

SPEAKER_02: Oh my goodness.

You know, I think the biggest thing that came from you was the, you know, there's a there's a big thing in in our industry for for those who are not in the industry listening, you know, about what we are worth as travel advisors.

You know, back in the day, you know, and that's where a big shift has happened in our industry of of us changing over to more as a travel advisor because we're advising our client.

We're not just there to simply, you know, pull out the the catalog or the computer and book something.

We're actually designing and creating this amazing vacation for somebody.

And so that is the one thing I think through your webinars is is teaching and reinforcing what we are worth as travel advisors, as travel professionals, just like any other industry that that somebody goes and pays service for to have their car detailed, to have their taxes done.

There are things that people could do on their own, but they value the service of a professional.

And I think that's something that I've just learned tremendously from you.

SPEAKER_01: Well, and thank you.

And you I'm glad you got that out of it because that is my biggest uh and one of the things I'm most passionate about, right?

Everybody out there, especially for those that are not travel agents, right?

When you you realize that time is money and you have priorities in life.

My priority is an example as in the family.

My weekends I want to spend them with my family.

I don't want to spend my weekends cleaning my house or washing my car or, you know, climbing up on the roof of my house to clean the gutters.

And yes, those are all things that I could do, but do I want to spend my time doing that, right?

And so I value picking up the phone and having a professional come out and help me because I would rather spend that time with my child who is growing way too fast.

And and I think that's the biggest thing that I want people to understand.

I think, listen, Kevin, the issue is that I think, in all fairness, a lot of the younger generation just really don't understand what a travel agent does because they grew up not needing one or not using one.

They probably their parents did or their grandparents did.

And so after 9-11, when all of the travel agencies had to shutter from Main Street America and they went home-based, well, people thought they disappeared, but they did not.

And we got smarter.

We had to reevaluate our businesses.

And like now, with it, you know, within the pandemic, we realize just how important a travel advisor is.

That is the person that's on your side.

You know, it takes 40 hours on average to plan a trip.

Does do people really have an extra 40 hours to plan a trip that they want to go to, or do they rather call an expert that is going to give them the best value for their money?

It's going to direct them towards the best location.

And on top of that, has their back before, during, and even after they travel.

So to me, right now, it would be unconscious for me to spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, go halfway around the world and not have the safety or the security that somebody has in my back in s in case something goes wrong, you know?

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

And I mean, and I even get from from just the investment standpoint, I mean, let's face it, when you're going on a really nice vacation, I mean, that's one of the largest investments you're going to make next to buying a car or buying a house.

And so, I mean, it just makes sense that don't you want somebody who does this day in and day out to help you to be there as your advisor, your advocate, and and to be there when, you know, something does happen, something does go wrong, when we do get hit with a global pandemic and the world goes into chaos, you know, you know you've got somebody who's got your back.

SPEAKER_01: And um Absolutely.

Absolutely.

I completely agree with you.

Look, it money is hard, right?

Money's hard to come by.

Nobody's is got has free money around.

So you're taking your hard-earned dollars and you've been saving for a vacation that you're gonna spend thousands on.

Why would you not ensure that you're gonna get the best, absolutely the best value?

Uh and you know, I've had clients that have been traveled when I when I did uh honeymoons where let's say they had an excursion plan and then they got bad weather, they would call me and that's all they had to worry about because I would rebook it.

The excursion went on the next day or two days later without a hitch.

They didn't lose any money.

They got there.

How many times have we not traveled without a travel agent?

You know, we go into a cheap website and then we show up, and that hotel is nothing like what the pictures show, right?

Or you got there and you think you're gonna get a room, but then they put you in a different room and they tell you, Well, you booked it on this third party website, so that's that's all the room you can have.

And when you open the door, you know, you're looking at the garbage area, or you know, it's just the nightmares.

One time I did I made a mistake before I was in the industry.

I booked a hotel on the third party website, and I am not a smoker.

They put me in the smoking room, and I immediately got a headache because I could smell it.

And she was like, Well, you booked in a third-party website, so there's nothing I can do.

Like, that's the room you're gonna get.

I was furious, but there was nothing I could do.

SPEAKER_02: Of course.

Of course.

Yeah.

So you know, and and and that is that is so true.

And I mean, that's the unfortunately, it's the you know, the chance that you take with with going on it, you know, with just picking out a website and booking something.

You know, there's all these little nuances to it that you don't even think about.

So, so yeah, so that's great.

No, I would like to have you share with, especially with those travel advisors who are listening to today's podcast, your your business.

Market your thing.

Tell me about that.

What is that?

SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, I started in and I was I have a fashion design background.

That's actually what I went to school for.

And when I first started helping other agents, I saw there was a real need for branding, for beautiful websites.

You know, unfortunately for I'll say this to the travel in you know, agents listening, you know, the travel industry has been lagging when it comes to innovation and branding and how we present ourselves.

And I understand that.

Look, travel agents are busy selling travel.

They really don't have a lot of time to deal with other things, you know, related to their business.

And so then from from doing that little bit of branding, I realized you really had to have an agency and people working for you in order to deliver the best service.

And so I wasn't able to do that at the time.

I came back and, you know, marketing is what I do now.

To me, when I when I came up with marketing your thing, is because it doesn't matter what you're selling or what you're marketing, the rules kind of still apply.

The rules still apply.

And that's what I want agents to think about when they're either marketing a product, which I my biggest belief is you don't market a product, you you market yourself, right?

Because I'm hiring you as a service provider.

I need to have a relationship to you, I need to know who you are.

And that's what I want to just take away from market your thing is like I want you to market your thing, whatever it is that you do, but the principles still apply.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

I love it.

I love it.

Yes.

That's wonderful.

So now who is that targeted at?

Is that to new travel advisors?

anybody No matter of experience in the industry, just somebody who's looking for that little extra help?

SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll tell you, when I first started, when I got back into marketing, I actually wanted to keep it open to the travel industry and non-travel in industry people, uh, women entrepreneurs.

But really, what I have a passion for is for female travel entrepreneurs, especially women of color, to develop luxury travel agencies.

So if there is a travel agent out there that has been in the business for about three years, two to three years, they they've already learned because of you know the errors that they've made or the mistakes, or you know, after two or three years, you kind of start to think about, okay, this is where I want my business to go, and these are the things that I don't want to do.

Then I love to take agents and just help them up level their business, start creating consistent income, start creating profitable travel agencies because everybody is hung up on sales.

And I say, I don't care what your sales are.

Tell me to let's talk about your profit.

That's what I really am passionate about.

Because sales, well, that's just a number and it and it gets you pretty awards, but how much profit are you keeping, you know?

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

I mean, it it I mean, let's face it, you can you can sit there and you can sell and sell and sell and work, work your tail, you know, off, or you know, you can book a few really good trips with, you know, good suppliers, and you know, you're gonna come out making a better profit in the end, and it works out better for you.

SPEAKER_01: So Absolutely.

And that was one of the lessons that I learned.

You know, when I first started my agency, it was encore destination weddings and honeymoons.

And pretty quickly I realized that I did not want to do destination weddings.

I give me a honeymoon, give me an elopement.

Oh, I love those.

But I tell you, and I'll tell you this little story.

I had a small destination wedding that was a headache.

I was eight months pregnant, I was actually traveling, and I got a call from the hotel manager that night because the groom was a total idiot.

He was rude to the staff, he was just beside himself.

And I had to, it took a lot of me to remain calm because I was pregnant, I couldn't afford to let my blood pressure go up.

And uh, we resolved that issue that night.

When commission time came around, a few weeks later, after that wedding, I had a couple with a very nice honeymoon to the Maldives.

And the commission checks from both of those were I ended up being that the commission from the Maldives trip was just about the same or a little bit more than that small destination wedding to the Caribbean.

And from that moment, I vowed I will never ever expend that much time and energy on this particular product because my zone of brilliance was not that.

My zone of brilliance was the luxury honeymoon market.

And um, and that's it.

That's I I I made up my mind if I want to be a six-figure profitable business, then I just need to really book six or seven of these honeymoons a month.

That's it.

SPEAKER_02: Of course, of course.

That's too easy.

Yeah, and you know, and I think I think that plays back to another thing.

With with travel advisors in today's age, you know, we've we've all learned that, you know, you have your own specialty, you have your own gift.

And there are some agents who, destination weddings, big groups, they are all in on it.

I mean, and they are killing it.

But there's then, you know, some people like myself who, I'll be honest, I can't stand trying to get my family, you know, uh about 15 people together on a Sunday night for dinner at my grandmother's house, much less by trying to organize it for, you know, another family of 50 to go to a wedding and and everybody's upset and one person's happy with the destination, the other person's upset that it's costing so much.

And, you know, I mean, it's definitely, but then there, like I said, there's some agents who they love that.

It's what makes us all unique.

And I think it kind of goes back to, you know, something that, you know, I reinforce is that in our industry, we all of us act more as colleagues rather than competitors.

You know, we are all so many of us are there helping one another, kind of like you.

I mean, before you even truly started, you know, your the business you have now.

I mean, you saw you like to help, you like to mentor other agents.

I think that is something that's just really special about our industry in particular.

SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.

I think that's the biggest takeaway, right?

That everybody has this different specialty.

Everybody has a different set of skill sets and different zones of brilliance.

And if we are true to ourselves and we actually create businesses that reflect those skill sets, then there's no need to be competing with anybody because in fact, we can just create a network and just refer each other.

I was just telling a client of mine yesterday, I say, look, you don't want all the clients, you want the right clients.

And so that gives you permission.

That's another thing that I love about niches, is that it gives you permission to say, you know what, that is not my expertise, but I can refer you to one of my colleagues that will love to help you with that.

And it's okay.

It's okay to do that.

I am a big believer that when you are on your zone of brilliance, that's when you get, when you're really clear about it.

That's when the right clients are gonna show up.

That's when the right opportunities will come at your door.

As long as you're confused or you're focused on the wrong things, you're never gonna be able to see what's really meant for you, what's really coming to you.

Because the minute, the minute I said I want to do luxury honeymoons to exotic destinations, Kevin, I had no problem getting consistently the $15,000 and$20,000 honeymoons.

And right now I have clients that book$100,000 honeymoons.

You know you know, so it's it's you just have to, when you say that, when you set the intention, right?

It just it works.

It works.

SPEAKER_02: It does, it does.

And, you know, as I'm listening to you talk, I'm like, I see why she does what she does.

Because you just you just got that voice to you, you got that power behind you.

You know, it just kind of gets you a little bit motivated, you know, and my this woman, she's been in the army, man.

She's she's got it going on, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_01: I'm just really passionate about what I do, Kevin.

You know, I am so blessed and so happy to be able to do this.

I love nothing more than teaching.

I love nothing more than, you know, I'm I can't wait for this pandemic to be over, to be able to, you know, meet with a bunch of you guys and just just spend some time with you guys because I am fueled.

I am fueled by other people's success.

When when people tell me, I just booked this$100,000 honeymoon, when they tell me, you know what, I just got that client that pay me a fee after they said they wouldn't, that just lights me up.

That is what keeps me going because I am truly, truly thrilled every time somebody has, you know, experiences any kind of success, especially the success that they work so hard for.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

I mean, we, you know, and that's what, you know, some people, you know, people outside the industry, they don't they don't realize what all is involved in what we do.

And, you know, I mean, it is a lot.

We work hard and we we take pride in in in our work, you know, and so it does.

I I agree completely with you.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it takes a special person to be in in in in the travel industry because it's kind of like I say, you know, it takes a special person to be a teacher, it it takes a special gift.

You have to have that gift to be a travel agent because, you know, at best, when you're planning a vacation, right, it's it's awesome.

But when things go wrong, it could get wrong and ugly really quickly.

And you're dealing with people's emotions around the situation.

So we sometimes can end up being on the other side of almost feeling like a punching back sometimes, you know, COVID, cancellations, hours upon hours on the phone with suppliers that are refusing to refund your clients or cancel or or change your clients.

You know, yes, we sign up for this, yes, it's what we what we do.

But on the other hand, I wish people knew just how much work and care.

I know travel agents that if they have clients traveling, they won't sleep right because they're just so hyper-aware of that phone, you know, that call at three o'clock in the morning because something went wrong.

And and I I just wish people knew it.

How much people our travel advisors care for their clients and how above and beyond they go for their clients.

And um, and it's no surprise that once somebody experiences using a travel advisor, they won't travel any other way.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

I think it is so true.

And I think, you know, and that speaks to you know the one point you were making about how much we we invest our time and and our energy into it.

And it is, I mean, when when my clients are so excited that they're they're leaving, they're finally, you know, going on their trip, their honeymoon, their big bucket list vacation that I've booked for them.

Meanwhile, I'm just like on pins and needles.

So I'm like, okay, just let the flight take off on time.

They, you know, it's just like you said, losing sleep at night.

That's totally me when I've got people traveling, especially when I know they've got tight connections or whatever.

You know, it's just like, because you want it to be perfect.

Absolutely.

And that's what we strive for, you know.

SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.

That that is so true.

I mean, we it's it's our baby, right?

It's our baby.

People have trusted us with their money, with their time, with their opportunity to make memories, right?

Because that is one thing that travel does that nobody can take away from you.

It's it's creating those memories with your front with your loved ones who who, you know, regardless of who they are.

And and you know, it's it's amazing because travel is something that, and this is something I tell you guys all the time, right?

You know, I'm speaking to travel agents right now when I say you can never ever assume someone, what someone will spend on a vacation based on the demographics, because you don't know how many people have saved for years to have this one bucket list trip.

And can you imagine somebody that has I've I've heard the stories, you know, somebody saving for years and years and years in order for them to go and take that trip, knowing that they're trusting you with something that they've wanted for years and they've worked so hard for.

That's a huge responsibility for us.

SPEAKER_02: It is, absolutely.

And you know, and I think I think the other thing, it's something that I pride myself on in my agency, is it's not just a client.

I in order for me to even start creating the vacation, I feel like I've got to get on the level of like friendship to be able to really get to know that person.

So by the time now that the person is traveling, not only it's not that you just want your client's trip to work out, you want your friend, you want that couple who is their honeymoon, or you want that, you know, husband and wife who's celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

You're invested in it's your friendship with your clients, you know, that it makes it even more important, you know, for us that it just, it's not our vacation, but it is our vacation, you know.

SPEAKER_01: So Yeah, absolutely.

You know, and that's one thing that I I always share as well with you guys is, you know, yeah, we get people that want to, you know, for example, they submit a quote request form and and yeah, they think they know what they want.

But when we actually get on a phone and we do a consultation with people, it's not about the details, it's about the psyche of this trip.

What does it mean to them?

What do they want to experience?

When they wake up in the morning and they open the door, what do they want to see outside?

Those are the feelings and wants and needs that we need to figure out, right, in order to create an amazing experience for them that goes well beyond, you know, budget, trip type, you know, resort type, uh, how many people are flying?

No, those are things that we ask because we have to ask for detail's sake.

But but no, when you have the conversation, it's about exactly that understanding how they're feeling.

Look, I like to say my ideal client when I was selling honeymoons, it was that bride, and I remember I can see her clearly because she was a real person.

It was like that bride and groom that sat in front of me and they feel kind of defeated because it felt like, you know, my mother and my mother-in-law have taken over this wedding planning.

We fought it for as long as we could.

We just realized there's nothing we can do about it.

The wedding no longer is our wedding, it's their wedding, you know.

And but the honeymoon, that's what's mine and his.

And this is what we want to do with our money.

And these are the expectations we have of our honeymoon.

You know, and you think about that.

That is the one trip that they are probably not going to forget anytime soon.

You want to make sure that you understand how they're feeling about this and what their expectations are of me, of this vacation, of the planning, of the destination.

It is it's almost like uh it's a work of uh psychology, really, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_02: Of course, I agree 100%.

And that's where, you know, again, and that's where it goes back to is I like to, you know, kind of use the uh the visualization of we're not sitting across the table from one another.

We're sitting on the same side of the table with you, looking at the catalog together and working with you, designing, you know, this trip.

And um, you know, it's like I said, it's just it's a relationship that a good travel advisor invests in their clients to build that relationship and to design that trip that they're going to remember for forever.

SPEAKER_01: So absolutely.

Absolutely.

It it's it's a huge responsibility.

And you know, if you're a consumer, you will want to to feel amazing about the fact that this person cares just as much as you do, or even more about this vacation, uh, like you do.

And if you're a travel agent, you know, that's it just goes to show how much care and really asking for the right things, right?

And and given understanding what are people's expectations of you, it makes it so much easier, so much easier to develop that relationship and then to come up with the right product for them.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.

Well, I want to ask you something, and this is gonna be a this is a loaded question, but for the travel advisors listening, we're right now, we're we're still in the midst of you know the coronavirus and everything.

What is one piece of advice that you could give to an advisor listening and also to somebody, a traveler, somebody who's not a travel advisor, but they're they're wanting to travel because you know everybody's sick of being at home.

What's piece of advice for each of those people listening today?

SPEAKER_01: I think the one thing that I can say is that nothing lasts forever.

We are, boy, as the travel industry has taken a beat down just like every other industry, but especially travel.

I've seen so many agents with incredible losses, years, two years worth of work lost in a week.

And that is that can be very incredibly defeating.

But you know what?

And this is the same for travelers, right?

We've all been sitting around the house for months and months waiting to go somewhere.

We all had trips we had to cancel, we had dreams we had to postpone.

Again, this is not gonna last forever.

The one thing that I can give everybody, and this is something that I take from my days, even being deployed in Baghdad, where you walk around and you know that you're not going home anytime soon, is that I never thought about it every day.

Like I didn't let that fact consume me on a daily basis.

I never thought about what I can't do.

But what I did do was I always kept looking towards the future.

This is what I'll be able to do next year.

This is what I should be doing right now, so that, and this is I'll I'll tell travel agents that you need to be working right now towards 2021 and further out.

Yes, you can be defeated, you can be depressed, you can be everything about what you lost.

But you know what?

You can't stay there.

You have to get up and you have to get sit back on your desk, get to work.

That's why I've been doing a lot of trainings because I'm like, look, if you're not selling right now, you need to be training, you need to be thinking about your marketing, you need to be thinking about 2021, which by the way, if you're not selling 2021, you are way behind the power curve right now.

Because, you know, again, travel, I I compare travel to the real estate industry.

There are only so many resorts with so many rooms that are available to people.

And if you wait till next year to book next year, you you are behind the power curve.

Things will be sold out.

And then for travelers, plan that trip.

Plan the trip for next year.

Yes, you couldn't take it this year.

Completely understand we have to do what we have to do, but this is not gonna last forever.

Every major tragedy that we have gone through, that everything lasts just for a period.

Everything always gets better.

So plan 2021, call a travel agent.

Do not leave your house, do not make any travel investments without a travel advisor.

You know, go on Facebook, contact you, you know, contact you, Kevin, call Kevin if you have any travel needs, call someone, come call a reputable travel agent and get that trip planned.

Because, yes, we had to take a break.

I was gonna say take a knee.

Let me clarify that.

In the military, we always say take a knee.

I don't want to become just not become a political post.

But I just want to explain, because I use this term a lot, and people look at me like, huh?

In the military, when we are weary, when we're tired, when we have to regroup on a mission, we take a knee, as to say, taking a break.

So we've taken a break.

I've taken a knee, I've taken a break this year.

We we haven't been able to do the things that we we have to do.

But 2021 is still there, 2022 is still there.

So look towards the future and plan.

Start planning now.

SPEAKER_02: Yep.

And and you know, and to add what you said earlier about the importance of just focusing forward, you know, me in my own life, you know, when when I was 17 years old is when I became blind.

In short, basically, my life as I knew it was over.

Every dream I ever had for the future was gone.

Everything that I loved, everything I loved to do was no more now that I was completely blind.

But you know, one thing that I did every single day was I got out of bed with a smile on my face, I got dressed, put one foot in front of the other, and I did what I had to do.

In the midst of the hardest times in life, that's what you have to do.

You have to go back to figure out what is your base right now with whatever's going on.

Figure out what is the one thing that you can hold on to that's constant in your life.

Hold on to that.

Use that as your focus, as your drive forward, and just keep moving forward and never, ever lose hope in tomorrow.

And I think that's such an important thing is that you can lose a lot in life, but don't lose your hope.

SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.

Absolutely.

You you have to keep that hope and that fuel, fuel that fire that says, Tomorrow, tomorrow's gonna be better.

In the midst of the pain of today, right?

As you have shared your story, I cannot imagine.

But absolutely your attitude is what's got you to this point.

And so to the point that we're making, right?

In the midst of chaos, in the midst of tremendous loss, we still have to get up and keep going.

And I think we've seen, look, some of the most amazing, and I'll turn this to business right now.

Some of the most amazing, most successful businesses were born out of really dire circumstances and depression or the, you know, the crash of 2007.

So I always see opportunity.

And when when people run to the left, I always run to the right because I figure, hey, everybody, nobody.

Over here right now, I'm gonna take advantage of this opportunity.

You know, be the salmon, go upstream.

When everybody's going the other way, go upstream because that's where the opportunity is.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.

I love it.

I love it.

And well, I think we've covered a lot today, but I would like to ask you before we wrap things up, is there anything else that we have not covered that you would like to talk about?

The stage is yours.

SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, thank you, Kevin.

Well, no pressure.

No, no, Kevin.

I want to really thank you for this.

I really appreciate how you have pivoted in your business, how you have this amazing platform for travel agents and for the general public.

And I just want to really uh encourage other travel agents that may be listening to this to to seek and and get creative and do things outside of the box that maybe you consider doing but never got around to do because you were so busy.

This is the the perfect opportunity to do those things.

Whether it's refine your niche, whether it's put in place certain policies in your business, whether it's work on your website, work on, you know, a podcast that you thought about doing, whether it's a YouTube channel, whether it's your Instagram, whatever it is, whether it's call up that local organization that you've been wanting to know more about or maybe partner up with or help, you know, there there's always something that can be done.

Always, always call somebody up and come from the place of how can I help?

Because I believe that comes back to you tenfold.

So in the midst of our own pain, our own losses, our own situation, when you look around, there's always somebody that has it way worse.

So so use that.

Use that and move forward.

I I I think that's the best advice I can get travel agents right now.

SPEAKER_02: Well, awesome.

Well, listen, I want to thank you so much for coming on the uh podcast today.

And I just uh really want you to know how much I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.

I am so, so, so flattered by your invitation, Kevin.

I appreciate you so much.

And anytime you would like to chat, I am here.

Love to chat.

Thank you so much for what you're doing, and I wish you so much success.

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, thank you.

And for all of you listening, I will include in the show notes below all of Brenda Jamis's contact information for market your thing and to follow her on social media.

So, with that said, you know, stay home, but let's start planning for some vacations because we're all ready to travel.

And that's the lowdown on life and travel.

Have an awesome day.

SPEAKER_00: And that's the lowdown on life and travel.

If you enjoyed today's episode, please leave a review and don't forget to subscribe for more.

Want to hear more from Kevin Lowe?

Be sure to follow his travel agency, Better Days Travel, both on Facebook and Instagram at Better Days Travel.

Plus, subscribe to his weekly newsletter that hits your inbox each Sunday morning.

Just visit betterdaystravel.com.

That's betterdaystravel.com to sign up.

And until next time, just keep living and enjoying life like it was meant to be.