Stop Treating Your Travel Business Like a Situationship

Hey there, welcome to the No BS Travel Advisor. This is the solo edition, just me, Marcie Muensterman, my mouth, my mistakes, and the real stories from 19 years in this wild-ass industry. There will be no guests here, no censorship, no filters, just the truth behind how I burned out, rebuilt, and finally learned to run this business like the the CEO that I am. And if you're an independent advisor who suspects your host might suck, hates working for free, and appreciates a well-placed F-bomb, you're in the right damn place. So let's go. Ah, here we are, friends, back again to the No BS Travel Advisor Podcast. I am Marcie Muensterman, and I have so much on my brain today, and I was really struggling with my mic prior to getting on here, so I'm a little flustered. My son Who I adore comes into my office and messes with my shit all the time. Like a couple of weeks ago, I literally had a meltdown because he had messed with my office chair and like loosened the back and adjusted the height. And it's little, but I don't like those little things messing with my day. Today I come in, my mic is off. It's always on. It's always green. And I couldn't figure out why it wasn't. And it turns out he had unplugged it in the back and I had to figure out how to get it plugged back in. I ended up having to call my husband. From his home office to come in here and help me, and of course it wasn't plugged back in like all the way, even though I tried. So now we're back in action, and it's just one of those days that I want to share so much with you. I want to share my story, how we got here. I know you guys might be tired of it, but there's a lot going on with me right now, and I'm really excited. First of all, it is February 10th, and it is my 19-year wedding anniversary. And I just have to tell you, like insanity, insanity that we have made it this long. We were together for a couple of years before we got married, and prior to that, we were friends for a couple of years and running in the same circles, and both of us were dating other people before we got together. And I think that it is so crazy how fast time passes and how much can change and how much remains the same. It is also Valentine's week, and while I am not a huge fan of commercial holidays, I do like to take advantage of just the idea of falling in love. And I don't mean with another human being. I mean with your business. So for those of you listening to this in live time, I have an I Love Travel Advisor sale every February in honor of you, where you can save 14% off all month long. And that is going on right now. Now, obviously, if you're listening to this and it's not February of 2026, there is always a little code in my show notes for a savings just for listening to the podcast. The other thing that is happening right now that is huge for people is it's the Chinese New Year, and the New Year of the Horse is upon us. So there is so much universally going on and in our world, and if you're into astrology and all of that stuff, we're also like in the year of the fire signs. So I just love all the symbolism and all the ways that we can connect together through these chapters, these chapters that end, and then the opportunity to begin again. And of course, I always think like, how does that relate in business? How does all of these things come back to us when we're thinking about our lives and the way we have grown over the years? And I just think you are here, you are listening. And it is time to fall in love, shed the past, and really push ourselves forward with commitment to our business. We have to have high standards and energy and endurance. And isn't that like a long-time partnership? That's what I'm thinking today. It's like, I have been in the longest relationship I'll ever be in with my husband. But also equal part to my travel business. It's crazy to me how far he and I have come, the things we have done together, the fact that we have teenagers, but also how far we have both come in our careers and how we have had to endure and how that relates so much to owning your own business, running your own business. And I just keep thinking like, what is the difference between dating your business and being married to it? Are you in a lifetime commitment? Because if you're not, it's going to be hard for this to work. And I think it's like anything else. Our business brings all kinds of different feelings that no one can fully explain to you until you're in it. And I would say that's so much like marriage. A lot of people say, well, I lived with my husband forever and it was the same. And I just completely disagree with that. While we did live together, I still felt like our marriage was different once we had fully, fully committed. We had all kinds of young person issues prior to getting married that we had to really shed once we brought ourselves into the marriage. And that is just like business. And I think it's so interesting because Every chapter of our marriage has also brought us different challenges and hesitation and even sometimes trust issues. And I think that's so similar to how our relationship with our businesses— things change, challenges arise, and you have to shed the bullshit. You have to get real with yourself, get honest, and decide what you're going to change to make it work no matter what. That is what strong marriages have in common with long-term business. Now, obviously some of you are sitting there like, Marcie, you don't know what you're talking about. Sometimes you just got to get a divorce. I'm like, yes, you do. I support all divorce in whatever form it comes, because again, it's a chapter ending with a new fresh beginning, a new commitment to yourself. If you're no longer in a partnership, you still have to commit to yourself and show up for yourself and do the right things for yourself, which is just like business. So maybe today you're thinking about last year. Maybe you're thinking about last week. Maybe you're thinking about yesterday. Whatever negativity is behind you, keep it behind you. Shed it. Make decisions for your future. Okay? Because if you're not doing that, you're not committed. If you're always worried about what other people think of you, you're not committed. And I want you to have harmony in business and life because I don't actually believe in balance. There's always going to be an imbalance of life-work, just like in everything we do, we have to make a decision every single day to show up. So I have a lot on my mind. I might be a little ADHD, but I hope you can stick with me today. And I hope you can take a breath, take a sip of that coffee. That's what I'm doing. Or maybe you're already having a little bit of wine, whatever it is. Turn off your Facebook notifications, silence your fucking phone. Let's go. Let's talk about it. First, I want to tell you a little bit about my history with my husband. I already said that, you know, we were friends for a couple of years and actually we met through friends, kind of like I was working at a bar and he had come in with a group of friends that I had met after college, just had some drinks and I waited on the table. And then like after that, And actually, I might not be telling the story exactly how it goes, but like after that, we had also met at his apartment complex. It was very Melrose Place back then. I don't know if you guys remember that show. I'm really showing my age, but there were just a lot of single people living in this apartment complex, and they had a bit a big pool, and they had like a volleyball court. And Eric and his friends were playing volleyball one day, and I was actually there with my boyfriend at the time. And he tells it like it was a Top Gun moment, and I saw him, and everything gets into slow motion. But that's just not. How this like happened? Ultimately, we just had a lot of mutual friends and started hanging out on weekends. And eventually I broke up with my boyfriend, and he and I, you know, started hanging out. I like have the most random core memories of those early days hanging out with Eric. Like we watched a lot of NFL football, and we went to P.F. Chang's on kind of like our first date. Even though we'd had drinks and meals prior to that, it was like our first time being alone. And I remember wearing this cute like. casual but kind of sexy cream and black striped wrap shirt. And I kind of wish I still had it because it was so flattering. And we just hit it off. And we'd always gotten along. Like, we were both volunteering for School on Wheels. He was helping them with math and science, and I was helping the kiddos with English and social studies. And we did that a couple of times a week, and it was such a great way to get to know each other without the pressure of dating. And I look back on that time and think like, Erik was always marriage material. And I have this crazy story where I was out on Margarita Monday with 2 of my friends, and Erik was actually interested in one of them. And she was kind of like, I just don't know because, you know, we're so young and he seems so serious. And I was like, girl, on paper, he is such marriage material. He had a great job. We were young, we were kind of broke, and he had one of the best jobs in our group of friends. And he just thought she was so cute and she, you know, she was not that interested in him. And I just remember it was mostly because he seemed so serious and he was, he was very serious about his career path. He was very serious about, you know, his future and he always has been. And by the time he and I got together, it was like a year after that. And he had not really, you know, all of that was true for him. And it was always such an attractive quality. And it was something I knew we could build on because I had all kinds of goals. Now I was a lot more flighty. I had like 2 jobs. One of them was at a bar. One of them was in downtown Indianapolis. And I fucking hated driving. And I quit my jobs for all kinds of reasons. I was also let go from a marketing position because I was an asshole at work. Like there was just so much going on with me. And I was really struggling at that time to just figure out who I was. So Eric came along and he really settled me down. He really helped me see like what could be, especially when it came to career and life and things like that. And we started dreaming together. And by the time we got engaged and decided to get married on the beach, ironically, we were also like the first of that group of friends who started that process. And, you know, 19 years ago on a beach in Negril, Jamaica, 27 people. I said, I do, to the man I am still with today. It was gross and icy back at home in Indiana too. I mean, let's be real, it was February. We're lucky to have even gotten out and got to Jamaica because those were Arctic tundra days before they gave it a name. We were young, naive, hopeful, and no one, I mean, no one would've predicted we would be here today. The way we are, and especially me, I think commitment, even on the day of my wedding, was really hard to take in. But especially, you know, all the different changes that have happened in the last 19 years. I became a luxury travel advisor, actually the same exact year we got married. Course creator, coach, podcaster. Now I'm an industry agitator and disruptor. And being a controversial know-it-all is not New for me, especially depending on who you ask, but especially also when it comes to my marriage. I am definitely a know-it-all in my marriage. And as much as we show our happiness on Facebook and share the positive things that happen, the beach photos, the amazing views from all of the hotel rooms we've ever had to stay, you know, had to ever had the privilege of staying in, there's so much. About our marriage that no one has ever and will ever see. And that's by design, right? Just like it's nobody else's business how you run your business. Like, let's be for real here. The thing is, nobody saw our financial stress, not even our parents, when we first got married. I mean, we were having ramen on Friday nights and letting our bank account go into the negative, charging Our debit card at Outback on Saturdays because we knew a commission check would hit on Monday. Nobody saw us actively figuring it out. That growing up together, that showing up even when we were in the middle of a bad fight. I mean, when we got married, we were 26 and 30, and while that doesn't sound young, We were still fucking kids. We were still broke. We were still just wondering what was next. And in the seasons where you're both building something, right? Like we had these individual dreams that we brought into our marriage. You don't know what is going to work, where you have these things that you want to do and how to put it all together with someone else. I mean, if you're from the Midwest, you know that there's always white picket fence expectations and 2.5 kids, and this is just how it's fucking done. But Eric and I, we've never been rule followers. We have always colored outside the lines and supported each other through major, major change. In fact, Eric left working in a firm that his dad was a partner in when we were Early in our marriage, and I'm not going to get into all of it, but it was really, really hard. There was no nepotism because he was treated meh, bleh by some of the situations that were happening there, almost because his dad was a partner. Updating his resume became part of my job as his wife. And now we're in Tampa where our lives have altered so much since living in Indianapolis. And I know it's because we took risks. We did things that people do not do when they grow up in the Midwest. We left. That simple decision when our children were 4 and 6, leaving the Midwest, was a catalyst for everything that has happened since. But here's the deal: no one will tell you the whole story about their story. These are just snippets. These are just parts and pieces that we experienced in this last 19 years. There's no way you can that we've had hard times. It all looks like fucking palm trees and beaches now, especially the last 10. And no one is going to just pour their heart out when you're looking around and you're like, is it hard for everyone else? When you're thinking it's lonely and challenging and difficult, and I want to know, is it like this for everyone else? And I can tell you that until you are in it, until you actually are practicing Being in a marriage, having a business, having kids, all this stuff. You don't know what the fuck you're doing until you're doing it, and you will feel unseen. There will be times you have to look around and recommit. You may even have to set boundaries for yourself and your partner and your kids and everyone else around you to get to the next level. This is not on my script today, but yesterday I was talking to a travel advisor whose career has taken off. Okay, she messages me and she says, Marcy. I am so lucky. I am having so much business, but I am starting to realize that you're right. I'm getting burnt out. She does not see her husband. She does not go to her gym anymore. She's working 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM, you guys. And I was trying to figure out while I was talking to her, like, what are you doing that whole day? And she's like, I'm definitely talking to clients. I'm servicing bookings. I'm quoting, you know, but it's like. For 16 hours? That makes no sense. And I told her, you're going to have to turn everything off, like genuinely turn everything off, turn off your phone, shut down your email, put your out of office on to reset, set boundaries. Because if you don't, nothing is going to be possible. Systems and workflows cannot be put into motion. Change cannot happen if you keep doing it the exact same way every day. And she kept asking me like, what do you mean? How do I do that? What do I say? And I just say, you tell the truth that you are figuring things out and you need some time away from clients. And unless they're traveling now or in the next 30 days, they don't need you. That's the truth. Unless they're traveling right now or in the next 30 days, you're not needed. And you don't need to send all those quotes and you don't need to answer your phone every single time it rings. You need to get your shit together so you're not working so much every single day and missing out on life. And it just makes me sad that there There's so many travel advisors out there working like this and not willing to shut things down. When things aren't working in my relationship with Eric, when things are struggling, we shut it down. We remove stuff from the calendar. We reset. We go on a mini trip. We talk, we close off everything else and focus on each other. And that's what you have to do in business. If you want things to change, you have to look at this business and say, what can I take away? What can I say no to this week and recommit? Usually when there is something wrong in my marriage, it is because we have just gotten so far apart. We haven't really connected. We haven't been talking. We haven't been communicating. And I would say that is so true for business. When you get into bad habits, things just get disconnected. Boundaries get broken and you have to circle back to your goals. Refocus on that word of the year. Be honest with yourself. We've been talking a lot about taking a accountability and responsibility for yourself. And that's what you have to do. When I am frustrated, whether it's in marriage or business or any friendship relationship or with my kids, it's usually something I have done. And it's usually a miscommunication because I am falling back into old burnout habits, right? I mean, you have to think about yourself and how you got yourself here. And really look in the mirror and say, what did I do to get myself here? If you are with a toxic host, think about how you got there, the conversations that you had, and then decide how you want to change the conversation. It's on you. Every single thing that we do is on us. How someone responds to it is not on us. I always say it is not my job to make my husband happy in our marriage. It is my job to focus on how to make good things in our marriage and bring happiness and joy to my marriage, but it is not my job to make him happy. It is not his job to make me happy. Now, there are things we can both do, right, to help bring all that happiness and joy. For example, Eric makes me a coffee every single morning and brings it to me in bed after he has gotten both kids up and off to school. And it's pretty new. It's only been happening like that for a couple of years. But let me say, it brings me so much joy. Now, on the days he can't do it, I'm not unhappy. I'm just missing it, right? It's the little things that that person does that brings joy. But my happiness is not his job. My happiness is on me and the choices I make every day and how I show up. And it brings him joy when I acknowledge him and thank him. He really appreciates— Words of affirmation and feeling appreciated. And when I'm not doing that well, there's always a little bit of tension, you know? And that's what happens in our business too. When there's tension, it's like, what am I personally doing that is bringing this tension into the conversation? So you have to make decisions every single day that matter to you and your partner, if you're in a relationship. And if you're not in a relationship, what kinds of decisions are you making every day to show up for yourself? And if you're in this business, what decisions are you making? What commitments are you in? How consistently are you doing this job? What rules are you writing for yourself? What can change depending on the situation? And really take ownership of that. If you're not happy in your travel advisor business, it's because you are choosing not to be happy in your travel advisor business. It is no one else's job. Inside the business, not even the business itself, that is going to make you happy. So you're either dating and just mingling about, talking to, chit-chatting with your business, or you are fucking in it. And being in it is so much work. It really is so much work. And I want you to feel seen. I want you to understand that you are not alone, even when it feels like it. And all that excitement that you felt when you made this decision to become a travel advisor. I know it feels like it can just wear off. Those butterflies, those first few weeks of dating, they don't maintain forever. I know, I know. It's like, come on, I want to feel those butterflies forever and ever. But you have to stop treating your business like a situationship. Stop disappearing for weeks on end. Stop ghosting your following. Take the course and implement it. Niche down. Start that next chapter. With commitment. Stop complaining about your toxic host and read your fucking contract and figure out how to leave. Charge the damn fee if you want. Stop being so scared of the what-ifs. If you want commitment-level results in this business, you cannot have casual-level efforts. You cannot build a 6-figure business working less than 20 hours a week with this blasé energy. You have to figure out the structure, the workflows, the systems, the boundaries, and then show up consistently. That is how you will get to clarity and long-term planning and being able to protect your time because you will know what's going on in it. When you leave environments that are disrespectful to you, you will have the ability to see where else you can improve. You will shed That snake and bring in the force of the horse. You will start charging what you're worth, even when someone is side-eyeing you. If you're going to bring commitment-level, marriage-level energy, it really has to say, I'm in this, I'm building this, I'm protecting this, and I'm gonna do it no matter what. And some of you might be out there like, oh my God, this is not the same as marriage because You know, there's two people and somebody could cheat and somebody could be an alcoholic and there could be all this bad stuff happening. That's why you have to make decisions that make sense for you. My 19 years has had its so many ups and downs, but nothing toxic, you guys. And just like leaving a toxic host, somebody told me the other day it felt like a divorce. And I don't know what a divorce feels like, so I can't relate exclusively to that, but I can imagine What she was saying. She was basically saying like, I lost all my friends. I lost my confidants. I lost money. I lost clients. Like she was like, it's like giving up so much of yourself when you thought you were in it with this person, this owner, someone you trusted who betrayed you. So it's the same thing as that too. And when you make those decisions to move on, you have to look for something different to commit to. None of this is going to be easy. Nothing about being in business. Is easy. And that's why we have to be in love with our business. That's why we have to become obsessed with our business. No one else is going to be obsessed with it like you. And as we head into the Chinese Year of the Horse, where the horse really does represent independence. So if you're on your own, it's your year. We are going to gain forward movement and momentum, strength and freedom to do what we want to do in our business every single fucking day. But we're going to have to have stamina. Okay. Stamina is what actually gets you to your goals. We're gonna get off the fucking hamster wheel. We're gonna shed the skin of the snake, all these euphemisms, and we're going to stop running ourselves in circles. You're gonna stop posting randomly, stop reacting negatively to the person who slides into your DMs. Gonna pre-K pause before you respond. So that you know exactly what you want to say so that you don't say yes when you mean no. But you're also going to stop waiting for permission. And if you need permission, message me, I will give it to you. You do not need host validation. You cannot possibly be waiting for random clients to just magically appear. A horse runs towards things quickly, but not with desperation. Okay. You have to stop acting like an employee when you are The owner of your 1099 business. And you have to stop letting someone else hold the reins of your confidence. You're in charge. You run the track. You build the stamina. You sprint towards your goals. And then you rest. You rest. Even when you're moving forward, you have to take time for rest. You have to take time to reset, to evaluate, to look at your entire business and say, what is working? And what is not working? Has the seed been planted long enough for it to work? Because that's what's going to build the longevity in your business. That mindset, that resetting is normal. I want you to think about what you will and will not tolerate this year. For example, in marriage, I would never tolerate control, isolation, financial manipulation, conditional love, and the moving of goalposts. I would never allow you owe me because I married you. Energy. So why on earth would I also then tolerate that in business? I wouldn't, and neither should you. So when you're really thinking about your business, when you're thinking about who you're partnered with, when you're thinking about how you feel, think about this: What kinds of red flags are popping up? Are you in a non-compete that makes you feel trapped? Do you feel nervous to express yourself openly on social media? Are you told you can't book airfare or you can't charge fees? I heard both of those this week. Holy shit! What the fuck? Are there things that you feel are mandatory or are insinuated that they're mandatory, like Monday morning meetings or mandatory travel? Are you getting paid on time? Like, those are the things that you really need to look at closer if you're struggling, because besides finding the perfect aligned clients, what really makes a lot of you miserable is your travel agent owner. But you are responsible for your own happiness. It is not their job to bring you happiness. And I know I'm all over the place today with these comparisons And the Year of the Horse. But here's the deal, guys. Like at the end of the day, it is the same theme, different week. You have to have standards. You have to have self-respect. And nothing that happens in your business is truly an accident. It's happening because of decisions you have made. And in many cases, in the decisions you refuse to change. The woman I spoke with yesterday seemed desperate. She seemed like she really wanted help. And every time I suggested turning everything off, she just kept saying she couldn't do it. How does she do it? And I said, well, I have a course that will teach you these things, but it's 12 hours long. Like, if you don't have time to even go to the bathroom or eat a meal, because she mentioned that she only takes 5-minute breaks to eat something quickly, you're not going to have time to do a 12-hour class. So please don't invest in that. But please do understand that if you never make change, then a year from now, you're going to be in the same situation you are in right this second. And that is on her. There's nothing I could possibly say to change it until she is ready to change it. But she's miserable. She's tired. She's exhausted. And I feel for her. I really do. But in the vein of horses, we can only bring a horse to drink. We can't force a horse to drink, right? Making intentional decisions is how you fall in love every day with your business. And I want you to be in love with it. Being in love after 19 years is not an accident. In 2006, we had no clue what we were fucking doing. And I certainly had no clue how difficult it was going to be to grow a travel business and maintain a travel business without getting burnt out. I mean, for fuck's sake, I accepted a 70/30 split forever. Not really forever, for a long time before I decided I had to get the fuck out of there. I generated millions in sales and I trained people and I hoped things would change. I hoped things would get better for me and they didn't. Because I was waiting on somebody else to make a decision. So once I left and was able to rebuild and pivot, it was like breaking up and coming back and re-dating travel. But I knew if I wanted something different in 2018, I was going to have to make different decisions than I had ever made before. And I was going to have to truly commit. And that's what we all have to decide for ourselves. A lot of people say to me, you want us to do it just like you. And in fact, that's not true. I want you to have similar success and I can teach you how I did it to get here with strategies and workflows that work for my ADHD brain in a schedule that is intense, surrounding myself with my kids. Like I don't have the kind of time to be in the office 16 hours a day. And if you have small kids now, y'all, it doesn't get easier. I am more busy now than when they were small. There's no way I could personally sustain a 9 to 5 job answering to someone else. This has to work for me. And so in 2018, I just knew I could not be the workaholic I once was if I was going to come back to this. So I created a lot of different things for myself that I now teach you. And that's what I mean by if you want what I have, doing it like I do it is probably one of the only ways it will work for you. But it doesn't mean it's the only way. You do have to design your business for yourself and figure out what works for you. But if you are working 16 hours a day and you can't even take a bathroom break, there is a fucking problem. You have zero boundaries. You have zero commitment to yourself. There's literally no reason to be working like that. And not only are you going to pay the price, because ultimately that's what's going to happen, your clients will start to pay the price because you will start making mistakes if you haven't already. And we are dealing with thousands of dollars per vacation, y'all, and that is unacceptable. So if nothing else, think about your clients when you make decisions. And I don't mean, well, they want me to work all the time, so I'm working. No, they want you to rest. The right aligned client will want you to take a break and eat an actual meal and go out with friends and go to the gym. Aligned clients appreciate a healthy travel advisor. They would want you to make real money, right? I mean, You guys deserve that, but you're also the only ones who can do it for yourselves. You absolutely cannot expect anyone else to fall in love with your business for you. Showing up in this business every day takes a level of commitment that is undefined when you first start. And even if you work part-time hours like me, I only work about 10 or 15 hours a week on travel. I'm still fully committed when I'm in it for those 15 hours. And I am building wealth in the long game with my travel business. And I have made so many adjustments since 2018 to make that work for me. I want to make 6 figures selling travel every single year, working the least amount of hours possible. It is not selfish. It is not greedy. It is strategic and intentional so that I can also experience travel the way I want to experience it. And the way you build that. Is through intentional decisions that make you happy every day. Truly, that's how it's done. And I absolutely keep coming back to this, but it starts with your host. It starts with your travel agency that you choose to partner with. It starts with the niche that you choose, which we've talked about already. And it's a long game to get mentally committed to the long game, just like with marriage. Because if you're not in it for the long game, then why the hell did you get married? And even if you're like, well, it didn't work out. Okay. Well, the long bank— will you commit back to yourself? I want you to think about all the decisions you have made in the last year in your business. If you're brand new, I want you to think about the last few days. I want you to think about your revenue goals, the host contract you signed, the commissions that you're bringing in, the fees you are or are not charging. Do you have calendar control? Are you investing in your business? Are you saving that $5,000 to $10,000 into your business bank account so you can have the things you want? Are you building your own brand, sharing your obsession and love of this business every single day, or are you just reposting supplier promos and quote-unquote deals hoping that somebody pays attention? What kind of behaviors got you here? What kind of behaviors do you want to shed as the Year of the Snake ends and the Year of the Horse and all this momentum brings? Be honest. I want you to be here in 19 years. I I don't want you to say maybe next year. I want you to think about how much you love this business. And if you're sitting there going, I don't know what I love, I don't know how I feel, then you're really going to have some hard decisions to make over the next year. Because not only do we have to commit to ourselves every day, we have to commit to our clients. We're booking vacations that don't travel for 11, 14, 24 months. You're already in it. With some people. Every decision you make affects other people, and you're at the core of that. And that's why you need to bring your own happiness to this conversation. And it is the week of love, and I just want you to think about how that love transcends. This is not a desk job. I mean, we do it at a desk, but it's not that kind of job. It's the kind of job that forces you to really think about your future all the time. What's coming next? Because until those clients travel, you can't leave. It's much harder to leave anyway. I mean, you can, I did, I burned it all down and still had tons of travelers left, but pretty sure that loses trust. So I gave homework to my email list and I am giving homework later today to Maximize Your Travel Advisor Business Facebook group. And so now I'm going to give the same homework to my podcast listeners. I want you to write a love letter to your future CEO self. I want you to sit down with a pen and paper for those of you who know how to write in cursive and send yourself a Bridgerton style, my dearest future self love letter. And I want you to think about where you'll be a year from now and what you're thinking about your business right now and what you want for your business and this relationship with your business. And I want you to make promises to yourself and your business, and I want commitment. I want you I want you to stop worrying about what other people think and fall completely in love. Stop apologizing for things that you don't need to apologize for. Stop tolerating bad contracts. Okay? I want you to think about where you are and where you wanna be, and then I want you to tell yourself, and then I want you to seal that sucker up. Write a note on the envelope that says open on February 14th, 2027. You deserve to see how far you've come in that year. Long game energy, y'all. Let's build something that lasts and that you will thank yourself for in 2027. Because if you do this, I think you'll be so surprised with how just putting it on paper, penning this note to yourself, could literally change how you envision every decision you make for the rest of this year. The kind of joy and happiness that might come from just writing it down And then taking ownership of your own stuff to create and build the business that you desire. And maybe we'll be back here in year 20 of my marriage to chat about all the ways that things have changed in my life in the last year, because every decision I've made has led me here. And it's still just mind-boggling to me that you guys listen to this every week and send me messages. And I absolutely love it. Those words of affirmation are also my love language. So always feel free to send me a note. I read every email. I don't always have time to respond to every email, but I do read every email and I absolutely respond to 99% of the messages I get. But I just think about being once in my 20s doing this job and now being in my 40s doing this job and all the life experience that has come with those 2 decades and how no matter how many people try to undermine it, it doesn't change. That I'm here sharing with you. And that's what I want to keep doing because it brings me so much joy. And this is the choice I love to make every day to be here with you because I truly love the travel industry. I love travel advisors and I love what you are doing. I love this generation of hopeful travel advisors. You guys are inspiring to me and I'm so proud of the work you are doing. The challenges that you've overcome. I just, I know how lonely it gets and you keep showing up anyway. And that commitment, that will pay off. I promise. And that's why I want you to write this love letter to yourself, to your business. I want your future self to see just how far you have come. And this is so ADHD of me, but like, I'm just thinking like, I'm pretty sure I wrote February 14th, 2026 in that damn email. Anyways, it doesn't matter. You guys get it. 2027. You want to open it a year from now. And if you're listening to this in fucking October of 2026, who cares? Write the fucking letter and open it a year from now. Don't take everything I say so literally. We all have our own life experience that we're bringing to this business. I keep repeating that because I want you to realize how special it is, how special you are, what you have accomplished, and the challenges that you've overcome to get here. They are important and they matter and your story matters. And that's why I overshare with you so you can relate to some of these experiences in different ways so that you can see yourself in 20 years, what that might look like. I hope you have the most special week. Even if you don't celebrate, I hope that you take some time to love yourself, love your business, and love the life you're building. Happy Valentine's Day, y'all! All right, y'all, that is the end of another episode of the No BS Travel Advisor Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. And remember, I am not a lawyer. That is my disclaimer. I am a coach and mentor in the travel business with a ton of big opinions. So don't forget to leave that 5-star review. And if you need anything, I'm here for you. Bye. Bye.