Today we’d like to introduce you to Cyndi Williams.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started in the Travel Industry in 1994 and was consumed with wanderlust shortly after. I was selling over a million dollars a year in travel by the time I was 20 years old, traveling the world and loving life. I was able to experience the world at a young age and it helped inspire me to dream a little bigger and get out there and go after what I wanted in life. However, after 9/11 the Travel Industry had some rough years, so I moved into Executive Management for a travel related marketing company, during which time I earned two national awards for my work in Organizational Development. After my time in corporate my husband and I opened our own small business which was hugely successful but I missed the travel industry. So, I returned to travel, opening my own award winning successful agency, but took it a step further by using my years of business experience, marketing and travel backgrounds, I then opened Careers On Vacation, a company dedicated to teach others how to start, operate and expand their own portable and profitable Travel Agencies so they can live the amazing lifestyle that I have enjoyed for years. I’ve now trained over 1,000 Travel Agents in my career and I help hundreds of people start their own Travel businesses each year.
With the excessive travel options on-line, confusion with consumers has returned and the demand for Travel Agents is growing leaps and bounds. There is a new market for Travel Designers and custom Travel Agents that take arranging, custom, luxury and hyper-curated travel to a whole new level. This emerging market is fun, exciting and exhilarating but few know how to break into the industry. However, with Careers On Vacation making waves in the Travel Industry the tide is turning giving people access to the secret world of Travel Agents and how to build their own custom Travel businesses. I have made it my life’s mission to empower others that are passionate about travel, to turn their passion into profits. To help introduce them to this amazing Industry, and create a business that works around their family & lives, which is really the most important thing. I feel like Travel is the ultimate – “Follow your bliss” careers and I am so happy to work as an Industry Advocate, and Consultant to those wanting to get in on the amazing journey that this industry provides.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I think my biggest struggle was after 9/11 when the Travel Industry was in chaos, and the birth of Internet Travel Companies left the world unsure of the need for Travel Agents, but over the past decade the demand has returned and consumers are craving human interaction and customization more than ever, and so Travel Agents are reemerging bigger and better than ever. Plus, we are doing things on our terms – running our businesses while we travel, or home in our PJs, balancing family and work easier than ever all while doing what we are passionate above. That is the beauty of marrying the technology of today and our industry.
Careers On Vacation – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am a Travel Industry advocate that has won two national awards, been featured in local and national media, I also own my own award winning Travel Agency and have a track record for growing 6-figure+ businesses. Careers On Vacation is our Consulting Company that is teaching others how to launch and grow their own portable & profitable travel agencies.
The Travel Industry is not the easiest industry to learn and there are very few ways to gain the knowledge on how to open your own agency, our company is changing that. For the first time, giving people passionate about travel access to the information they need to open, operate and grow Travel businesses of their very own.
Outside of learning how to be an effective Travel Agent or Travel Designer, we teach them how to run their Travel Business; marketing, sales, operations, hiring, performance management, automation, and our secret sauce is the Entrepreneurial Mindset training we support all clients with to get them operating, thinking, and performing like productive business owners.
I am most proud of how we are changing lives. People that were slaving away in corporate jobs, over stressed, over worked, and disconnected from their families are now working from home, using their industry discounts to travel the world, putting their families first and still enjoying the abundance they did in corporate. They jumped into their bliss and are not reaping the rewards.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success comes in many packages, but I think people that find a way to make their life’s work what they love are truly the most successful. When you are eighty looking back on your life, no one is going to say I wish I would have worked more, but is you make your work something you love and something you can incorporate into your family and life – it’s not really working. I love doing what I do every single day. Call it wanderlust if you must, but I am in no need of a cure.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.careersonvacation.com
- Phone: 832-532-8643
- Email: admin@traveltripsy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wanderlustceo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/travelcareercoach/
Image Credit:
Tara Flannery
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
