Have faith in the success of your business and your passion
If you were to walk into my home office, the first thing that you might notice is that I have a collection. Yes, I have the standard assortment of tourist tchotchkes and travel photos, but I also collect a word, “believe.”
Right now as I glance around my office I smile at my collection. The most noticeable piece is a carved wooden sign that sits seven inches high and sprawls across the top of my desk that spells out “believe.” Over the years good friends started noticing my fondness for this word, and so I’ve been sent various gifts that include the word “believe,” such as an engraved notebook, a rock, a picture frame...OK, you get the picture.
Why do I have a passion for this word? One of the definitions of “believe” is “to have faith.” Anyone who starts or has a business has to have faith that it will succeed. In this column, I will share my favorite word with you and hopefully it will make you a believer.
Believe in yourself and the reasons why you got into the travel business. Many times I see agents who have set lofty expectations for the growth of their business only to get discouraged when those aspirations don’t materialize. By setting attainable benchmarked goals and reasonable timeframes, however, you can accomplish the goals that you’ve set for your business. A more attainable goal, for example, would be selling one group on an Alaskan Cruise Tour in 2010 rather than setting out to charter an entire ship.
Find ways to adapt your business to the current market. Few industries see the changes and challenges that we face. The agents who remain in business and grow have found ways to stay one step ahead and continually monitor their own business model and how it fits into the current marketplace. You probably know the book “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, which tells a simple tale of two mice chasing cheese that keeps moving. The summary of this story is 1) change happens; 2) anticipate change; 3) monitor change; 4) adapt to change quickly; 5) change; and 6) enjoy the change. It boils down to this: If you don’t change you will become extinct. You cannot grow unless you are willing to change.