So I feel like a complete an utter blogging failure right now. My provera-induced period is taking for-freaking-ever to show up, so there hasn't been much to say on the infertility front.
On the personal front I've been incredibly busy launching a small home-based travel company. I have a passion for travel, and I've been the "go to" for many of my friends for years when it comes to booking their trips. After doing it for free for so many years I decided it was time to start getting paid- especially since the price that my friends will be paying to the cruise line/resort will be the same or less as if they booked on their own.
In other words my friends get the same level of service from me that they did before, the same or better price that they would have paid had I simply given them advice, but I get paid at no cost to the consumer.
Too good to be true, right? That's what I thought. But it's not. I work with a "host agency" that takes a portion of my commission off the top before I get paid. But other than that, I have no fees- there were no "association fees" to join, no monthly recurring fees, nothing.
But DANG is it work. I mean a LOT of work. I spend an average of 4-5 hours booking something as simple as a cruise for a client, following up between booking and sail to negotiate better rates, etc.
Let's use the client that I booked last night. She and her boyfriend are taking a 7-day caribbean cruise. They are paying roughly $1200 when all is said and done.
My share of that $1200? Less than $100.
So it's a lot of work for very little reward, but at the same time I was doing it anyway for free, so at least I'm making *something* now.
No comments:
Post a Comment