Travel Advisor Burnout & Calendar Control

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 CEO that I am. And if you're an independent advisor who suspects your host might suck, hate Working for free and appreciates a well-placed F-bomb, you're in the right damn place. So let's go. Hey y'all, welcome back to the No BS Travel Advisor Podcast. I am your host, Marcie Muensterman, and if you're new here, welcome. I am so excited to have you today. I want you to know that before I get started, I do not do bullshit. I do straightforward, chatter. I hurt feelings sometimes, but the big thing I like to focus on is giving you advice that you may not hear anywhere else because people don't believe in my advice. And what do I mean by that is essentially I do not believe in the outdated hustle culture that our industry has perpetuated for the entirety of its existence. And if you're new to travel, or if you are even a veteran, you could possibly be stuck in 24/7 hustle mindset. So much of what we talk about on this podcast is within a progressive, abundant mindset. And often even I go to bed with anxiety after I share my personal perspectives on how to change this industry. And when I say you're not getting advice like this anywhere else, I know from personal experience. I know from Thousands of direct messages with travel advisors just like you who are struggling with burnout. Even new travel advisors can get burnt out because you may not have any clients, but you get up every day and you think you're doing this job, and you are in many ways. But you have not been trained properly on how to manage your boundaries, how to have calendar control, and how to be confident. No one. Really talks about that you can have this business however the fuck you want. And that is what I'm here to do. I am not going to ask you to fake it until you fucking make it. That is insane. That is perpetuating constant hustle. We do not need to do that. As a mother of 2 teenagers, as someone who did this job when I had babies, as someone who has personal experience trying to figure out whether or not this job is worth it. I share my stories and sometimes I share examples from you. And let's be honest, there was a season in my career where I was working literally all the time, nights, weekends, holidays, all the way up until I gave birth, responding to clients at all hours of the day, because I thought that that's what made a good travel advisor. And honestly, guys, I have very few regrets in my life. You can never go back in time and make a change. It doesn't mean I don't have sadness, grief, loss over relationships and things that I have done myself to destroy things. But regret, full-on regret, I mean, how would I be here if I regretted all of my mistakes? I look back and I am thankful for the mistakes I have made, except one. I have one major regret, and that is how I managed the early years of motherhood. I was a fucking workaholic, and I eventually had to choose. And I'm a very all-in or all-out type of person, and I eventually had to decide If I was going to stay a travel advisor and potentially get divorced and have a shitty relationship with my children or continue to be this 24/7 travel advisor. I was not taught how to have both, and I didn't know how to slow down long enough to figure that out. I burned out so hard 8 years in that I had to walk away from the industry completely. Because for me, I needed to decide one or the other. It was very black and white for me at the time. I realize now, like looking back, I could have absolutely figured it out if I had had the proper support, but I didn't have the proper support and I didn't know where to go to get coaching or help. And when I came back to the industry in 2018, I knew I had to make some Really big changes to how it used to be done. But I had so much more control over my emotions. I had matured as a mother and as a woman. I had read a lot of self-help books. I went to therapy. I did a lot of work on the inside because the only person that could change my situation was me. And I had to ask for help. From my husband, and I had to look to all kinds of people for support. And it was hard because I don't like to ask for help. I like to figure things out on my own. But prior to leaving the travel industry, I was having panic attacks under my desk. I was not sleeping at all. I treated my husband and kids like pariahs when they walked into my office. I felt like my work was more important than almost anything else. And unless there was an emergency, At home with my kids, I was fully engaged in the working 24/7 mindset. I was difficult. I was not very helpful or kind to anyone outside my clients. My clients, I think, didn't feel any of that because I put all my energy into the service. And I don't regret that piece. I just regret those 10 to 12 working hours a fucking day that my kids spent in daycare because it's really hard. To work from home with littles. And at one point I was called out by my best friend for never leaving the basement because I didn't. So I was either in my office or in my basement working on my laptop. I caught myself answering client emails from the bathroom when I was really sick one time. And even recently someone asked me, how long did you take for maternity leave? And to be honest, I didn't take maternity leave. I worked up until the very day I gave birth, both my kiddos. were late and I looked at it as opportunity to keep working. I got right back onto my cell phone. Specifically, I remember with Jude, she's my second, she was born in 2011. Within hours of her being born, I was working from the hospital bed responding to emails. And I did breastfeed her for a few months and I would lay her on my lap, breastfeed, and type Over her on my laptop. This is too much, you guys. And I deeply regret not spending more time connecting with my children. And honestly, like I wish I would have reduced how much time they were going to daycare. Hey, it was fucking expensive. I was paying like $2,400 a month on daycare for two kids under the age of four, and I was not making enough money. To really justify that investment. And yes, they're fine now. They really are. They're great teenagers. But I do think that because I had zero boundaries, I genuinely took it out on those closest to me. I lost friends during that time. My husband, Eric, he really struggled. And I made mistakes in both my personal life and my business life during that time, just purely out of reactional energy. I also couldn't see clearly. That a lot of the work I was doing wasn't necessary. I was running the social media for the travel agency that I was contracted with. I was helping train travel advisors and I was being unpaid. Like I was doing all of that volunteer, which is absolutely fucking crazy to me now. So I was invested in so many things that had no effect on my bottom line, especially a positive effect. And I was fucking exhausted and I was unwilling to make hard changes in the industry. So I left the industry. Being available 24/7, being accessible like that is not professionalism. It was not making me be better than any other travel advisor and having zero fucking boundaries did no good. And in the long run, I Left and thought I would never, ever come back. I was not a successful travel advisor when I left the travel industry, despite my million to $2 million in sales, in gross sales every year. I was not successful. That behavior, my attitude, my relationship suffering, that's not success. Like, it's so obvious to me now, having panic attacks, so not successful. In fact, it just really made me resentful and mean. I was exhausted, disconnected, and I really just burned that motherfucker to the ground because it was the only way I could like completely start fresh in a new chapter. Now, I didn't leave sales. As many of you know, I was also in an MLM direct sales company at the same time I left the travel industry, and there was a lot of hustle culture within that industry as well. But for some reason I could separate out some of that. And I had a coach and mentor that I did trust when I left the travel business and she was amazing. And I credit so much of who I am now to those years where I was with that direct sales company. It's also where I learned how to have calendar control and it's where I really decided that my Health, wellness, relationships, connections needed to come first. It's where I relearned how to invest back in my family and put first things first, as they say. So today I'm going to break down the boundaries that saved my sanity. And when I returned to travel in 2018, how I chose to move forward in this industry. That really has deeply affected who I am now and why I love being a travel advisor. It really is incredible the transformation that someone can make when they are intentional, confident in their decision-making, and are not allowing outside influence. And by outside influence, I mean Host company, agency owner, clients, even dear clients to affect who we want to be as an advisor and how we want to run our business. And frankly, there is no amount of money worth losing yourself, who you deeply believe yourself to be, your marriage, your friendships, those amazing connections that you have with your children. There's no amount of money that is worth losing any of that because that is who's going to be at your bedside when you're sick and old. And that is who is going to show up for you when all of this is over. You have to learn to build this business within the life you desire and all those bullshit policies that you might think you have to follow. Are just that. They're just bullshit policies because most of you listening are independent contractors. You have signed a W-9 and you have contracted business to business with a host or travel company. You are in charge of your time, how you spend it, who you work with, what you say yes to. So before I tell you what I do now, we have to talk about what I don't do anymore. And figuring out how to say no was probably one of the hardest things that I have ever had to learn how to do. And it did start after I left in 2015. I wanted to immediately make changes in my life. And so I sat down and wrote a list of all the things I did not enjoy. And that included things at the direct sales company I was with because they had all kinds of crazy policies. And I was like, I don't like doing that. Not doing that. I really don't want to There were things like, I don't like to go to children's birthday parties. Like, I really don't enjoy it. I don't— I have a lot of, um, like, what is it when you have ADHD? It's like the sounds are too loud. I'm, you know, sensory. I have a lot of sensory disorder, and I didn't know what that even was until my son was diagnosed with ADHD and he has sensory disorder. And sometimes that can be Textures, tastes, it can be smells, it can be sound. And for me, so much of my sensory has to do with how loud it is. And I didn't know why I didn't like going to children's birthday parties, but it turns out I just don't like how loud it fucking is. And so one of the rules I made when we moved to Florida specifically, we were invited to so many things off the bat because nobody has family here when they first move, especially. So they're like, Looking to their neighbors and looking to the kids in the class to expand their social circles, and I get it. So I said yes early in those move years. Like when I first got to Florida in 2016, I didn't know anybody, and I had exactly one or two friends, and it was just I wanted to make more friends. I wanted to be more connected to my community. So one of the things that happened was we would keep getting invited to birthday parties, and I kept saying yes, and then I kept getting completely overwhelmed, as did my son. And within a few months, I realized. I have to say no to this. I can't keep saying yes to these types of functions. And it's like weird because we kept getting invited and instead of saying no with an excuse, I said the truth. And it was one of the biggest things that I really have taken away from learning boundaries is either tell the truth or just say no thank you. Those are the two options that I give myself when I'm deciding. If I'm going to say yes to something. And one of the big things that I taught myself how to do was pause. So if I got a text like, hey, so-and-so's birthday, uh, you know, 8th birthday is next weekend, we're gonna have it at this pool, we're gonna do this, we're gonna do that, can Max come? Instead of just being like, oh yeah, no problem, we'll be there, without looking at a calendar, without thinking about, you know, what I really wanted, how I wanted to spend my weekend, whether or not Eric would want to do that, I I mean, we always just say yes, right? Like sometimes we just say yes without thinking. I really started to just pause. I would either not respond at all right then, or I would text back, hey, I have to look at whatever we're doing. I have to check my calendar and I'll be back in touch. Whatever you feel most comfortable doing, especially when you first start deciding the rules you're going to make for yourself and your family. So instead of just saying yes, I don't do that anymore. And I practiced with PTA moms, birthday parties. Sometimes in my other business, in my direct sales business, people would text me at all hours and I would wait until the next day. Like I learned slowly how to stop saying yes without thinking. So that's one major thing I don't do anymore. I do not say yes without the pause, without looking at my calendar and without deciding for myself first, if it's the right decision for me, then I would make that decision, especially when I had, you know, littles, for them. And did that mean our social circle was smaller? Did it mean that some people got annoyed and quit inviting me places? Absolutely. What a fucking blessing. I was so happy when our social life really changed to just being like our core people that we wanted to spend time with in smaller doses, right? So figuring out who you are, what you really want to spend time doing— and I do not want to spend time at big parties with lots of kids. It really gave me some self-confidence to take that into everything I did, including my direct sales business, and then eventually into my travel business. So when I came back to travel in 2018, I was already pausing, reflecting, and deciding what was best for me, what was best for my family, what was best for My sanity. So when I returned to travel, I decided immediately to make rules in my business. And this is something I have coached over the years. And these rules I get to make. I'm also the implementer of those rules. And if I break my rules, that's also my decision. And I have to deal with whatever consequences may come. So just keep in mind, like when you implement rules into your business, They are the boundaries and yes, they can be broken, but only you can break them. Clients can't break them, guys. Prospects can't break them. Your family can't break them. Your friendships, your church volunteer leader, PTA president, they can't break your boundaries. Only you can break your own boundaries. So a few of the rules I wrote for myself early were I was not going to respond instantly to direct messages, texts, or emails. I was no longer going to quote vacations in direct message. I was no longer going to work at night past 2:00 PM. I may make an exception for a specific situation, but I don't work every day after 2:00 PM. I do not work on weekends and I do not work big holidays that are important to me. I do not prioritize Client text messages over my family, especially if it's after hours. I wait until the next day. There are exceptions because obviously if someone is traveling, that's a different situation. I also do not apologize anymore for very many things unless it's absolutely hurtful or I have made a horrendous mistake. I especially do not apologize for these rules and policies that I have implemented in my business, especially because. I know I'm a very clear communicator and I set a lot of expectation upfront to make sure that the prospect is comfortable before they become a client. Any of you who have taken Propose to Close knows that a DM lead is not a pro— is not a client. They are a prospect. A prospect is somebody who has yet to invest in your business in any way. They have just sent you the random DM. They've sent an email. They've been referred. They are prospects. Therefore, I have zero obligation to them. And when I meet with them, because I'm appointment only, I set all these expectations up during that Zoom consultation. And because I do that and I share office hours, I share how I'm willing to communicate, I share how Long it takes for me to put together proposals, my policies around fees, all of that is communicated during the initial consultation. I do not set those standards in text or email. I always wanna do that face-to-face in a Zoom consultation. And because of that, because of that excellent communication, I only attract my most aligned clients now. And when I started writing down all the rules, I was terrified. Just like you might be terrified even hearing it. You're probably like, oh my gosh, what does she mean she doesn't work holidays? What does she mean she doesn't respond to texts after 2:00 PM? It was hard. It was hard because scarcity mindset can take over. Negative thoughts, the what-ifs. If you ask your mentor and she gives you different advice, who are you going to listen to? You have to listen to yourself. You have to trust that you can build the business you desire through the boundaries you set. And it will actually make you stronger. In fact, you guys, as soon as I started implementing my rules, I started attracting more quality clients. I weeded out the shitty ones and the ones who stayed or referred, they respect my time. They respect my expertise and knowledge. We have a better, more trusting relationship because the communication is so clear. And because there's more trust, I often earn more commission because upselling becomes easier and creating space for that amazing memorable vacation is so much easier. So I can focus on their needs, what they want. And these things have made it incredible and fun to run my travel business. In fact, I really sat down with myself in 2024 and decided I no longer enjoy Destination weddings. I have done 239 weddings as of November of '24, and it was my last wedding. And it— all of my weddings have been amazing. I've had so many great clients. It doesn't have anything specifically to do with my clients. It's just I no longer enjoy destination wedding planning. Just because I'm good at it doesn't mean I have to keep doing it. And so that's another rule I wrote for myself as I pursued new niches and new destinations to learn about. I was so worried I would miss the money, that I would miss those referrals because I got so many referrals from my destination wedding groups. But in fact, I am making as much money doing no weddings and I am so much happier. Weddings would stress me the fuck out. I cared about those weddings so much. They took up so much of my brain space. I cared so deeply for my couples. That's really how I turned into a workaholic, because I did not want to let them down. I knew they were stressed. I wanted to make their stress less, and by doing that, I absorbed all of theirs. And anytime somebody got a little attitude within the group, I just— I carried it with me. I worried about every detail. I worried about every single person, and I still do. I mean, I still care about my groups. I still care about these people, but there's something about a wedding that just made everything Like at a level 12, and if you're at a level 12, it's really hard to come down from that. It's hard to manage it, and weddings are such a big fucking deal. They matter so much more than the everyday vacation. Even the everyday super luxurious expensive vacation is so far like so much less stress for me than these groups traveling for a wedding. The other thing is I now no longer believe in the 40 to 50 to 60 to 75 hour work week. I do not believe that we as travel advisors have to work 40 hours to make full-time money. And full-time money for me is 6 figures as a travel advisor. I don't include my coaching course selling, any of that in this thought process. I do work 40 hours, sometimes 50, doing both careers, but I do not believe in the 40 hour work week for travel advisors, especially if you're a caretaker, especially if you have another job, especially if you have other things you love to spend your time doing. I believe that travel advisors can make a full-time 6-figure salary. I'm putting that in quotes because we're commission-based in 20 hours or less a week. And once I started thinking like that and changed my mindset around How to do that instead of I have to work, work, work, work, work, work, work. I have to get more clients, more clients, more clients, more clients. I realized there are different ways to level up to get to the income I need and the hours that I have to do this job. And realizing I wanted to have the 20-hour work week required boundaries, required these rules. So it is so important to know exactly. What you want, write it down, because if you don't know what you want, you cannot design the business you desire. It doesn't exist yet. One of the ways I immediately set a boundary was within office hours. Like I've already talked about this a little bit, but I want to get into it. Office hours can be different every day. If you want to carry weekend office hours, I think that's fine. For me, I wanted to work Monday through Friday at the most, but I really liked taking at least one day off a week. And most of the time I like to take Fridays, but being open and fluid is so important in our business because everybody has a different schedule and a different obligation to their clients when they're traveling. And it may depend that week on when my client is traveling, when I work, and that may mean adding Some weekend hours, but then I remove those hours from my week to keep my week at 20 or under. So office hours for me are non-negotiables. Like I want to set up my office hours pretty much by the month. Like I look ahead about a month to 2 months ahead and I look at all the other obligations I have— softball games, volleyball practice, doctor's appointments. I look at all of that and then decide each day how many hours I'm going to work. on my travel business. Some days that's 2 hours, some days that's 6 hours. I very rarely work past 1:45 now. So if I get started at 8, then that's about 6 hours in the office, like physically sitting down. And I really only like to do that 4 times a week. So that's around 24 hours, but that includes my coaching business. So I'm really only investing a few hours each day to my travel business now. And it took me a while to figure this out for myself. A lot of you will come and be like, what are your hours? How do you break up your day? And it's really just how I spend my time in the hours I have each week. And one of the ways I personally do it is I check emails first thing as I get in the office and I try to spend less than 45 minutes on emails. I only do new consultations for new vacations on Tuesdays. And I only do 2 maximum a week. I also spend a ton of time on my marketing. I would say marketing my business is probably one of my biggest priorities. And so I really invest a lot of time in scheduling my content in my Facebook groups. Now for me, again, I have more than one industry I work in. So I do all of that in those 6 hours. So sometimes I would say my travel Facebook group takes me like 45 minutes to do a week's worth of content. Now that is using my content calendar that I created for the First Class Community Facebook group course. And it now has like 500 post prompts and I use them every single day, just like you guys. I test run them in my group often and then add them to the calendar. So I believe, especially when we don't have a lot of clients, That we need to be spending almost the majority of our time marketing. The majority. When I was networking in person, which I don't do anymore, I would network once a month. So again, put that on the calendar. It was a guaranteed networking opportunity. I actually prefer to spend more of my time out in the community volunteering and spending time at my kids' schools if they allow it. My kids are older now and they don't love having me at the school as much anymore. But I would work the book fair if I wanted to connect with other moms. I started my own book club in 2016 that has allowed me to have opportunities to meet people without it being all about my business, but it has connected me to my community in a way that I can friend them on Facebook and continue that cycle of marketing on social media. I also did hire a VA, and I believe it helps to hire someone even when you don't think you have the budget, because then you get to spend more time on making money. When we are spending all of our time on administrative tasks, buried in emails, responding on the fly, we have zero control, and that's how we get buried under everything else, like those day-to-day minutia things. So if you haven't considered hiring a VA, I do think it is a valuable investment, especially if you are selling $250,000 or more per year in gross sales, because that means you're probably making $25,000 or more per year. If you're charging fees, you could pay for a VA, you know, reinvest in your business. Make sure you have that $5,000 to $10,000 set aside so you can hire someone if you need help, whether it's project-based Or part-time or full-time, because the way we get to less hours in the office is to have less tasks to do. So the hours I spend in my office are variable each day. And each day I plan out my day based on my list of to-dos. And I don't bully myself into getting every single thing done every single day. And I don't try to do it all in one day because it becomes exhausting when you beat yourself up over what you didn't get done. We need to focus on what we do get done. I really don't care to get more than like 2, maybe 3 tasks done a day. And often I use the Eat That Frog strategy. I read Eat That Frog a few years ago, maybe 15 years ago actually. It's been a while. And it's all about tackling that one big, hairy, gross task. So if it's getting on the phone with Disney, or if it's Putting together that really detailed proposal that takes hours, take— it's going to take my whole day. I do that first and then I go into all the other things that are on my list if I have time. Now, obviously I said I check my emails first. I do check my emails first and then I do the big frog task. This has really helped me. I also have a boundary where I stop. Getting on social media when I am hyper-focused. So I close Facebook. I don't check my text messages while I'm doing that big frog task. In fact, today, this is one of my big frog tasks, doing this podcast. I'm actually a little behind and I really wanted to get at least 2 done this week. So I'm doing them this morning and I really want to stay ahead on my podcast. It is not a task I dislike, but it's a big task. It takes a lot of my time. So obviously this is not a travel advisor task. So my big travel advisor task this morning was making sure that I sent an email back to one of my DMCs with a day-by-day tour list for my clients. And that was a big task for me that I've been putting off for 4 days because I was out for Thanksgiving like everyone else. So it was a huge task and I sat down and did that first thing this morning and I feel so much better that it is done. Right? So do the big task first every single day and you will feel so much more accomplished than if you skip, continue to skip over it. By 1:45, I am in my car and I'm going to be in my car for 4 hours. Now that doesn't mean I won't text with a client. I don't consider those onesie-twosie things. Back and forth, just quick little updates. Like, I don't consider that quote unquote work. But once I'm home and with the kids and we're doing dinner and we're going to practice and we have all these other obligations, I shut it the fuck down. I do not answer client texts, travel client texts after 4:30. I would say that's the absolute bottom line end of my day texting. With my clients unless they are leaving in the next like 72 hours. So these are just like rules. They're flexible. They're variable depending on the day, right? I do make exceptions for some of my favorite clients. That's a rule I break, and that's on me if it goes awry. Some of my clients are my friends, so sometimes they'll text me and we'll be talking friendship stuff, and then they'll shift into a travel thing. And I have to decide. I have to take a pause in that moment and decide, am I going to talk travel with them? Last night, I did get a late text from a past client that I love. She is traveling to Barcelona through Dublin to visit her daughter, who is doing a study abroad in the spring, and she needed advice on flights. And I really like this client. I think she is phenomenal, and I chatted with her back and forth for about ten minutes. That is my decision in those moments, and because. Because I was not doing anything with my family and we were not even in the same room together, I made the decision to respond. I paused, I read it, and then I was like, this really should not take me that long. And those types of choices can get all messed up. You know, we can do that and then 45 minutes later we're on a call and we're trying to book a flight. I knew I was not going to do that. I knew I was capable of answering her text, giving her a straight answer, And then moving on with my evening. And that is exactly what happened, and it lasted less than 7 minutes. And those are the types of things, like, I'll look at the time, I'll say, okay, it's 7:55. If I answer this and it takes longer than 5 or 6 minutes, that's gonna go into like cuddle time with Eric because he goes to bed so early. So it's like, okay, he's gonna be in here in about 5 minutes. Can I do this in 5 minutes? If I can't, I'm not gonna respond until tomorrow. So just Making different choices about whether you're going to respond. And honestly, I hadn't worked on anything travel in like 8 days. It really was no skin off my back to respond and give her some help. I am all about helping and releasing. I don't feel guilty to stop texting too. So if it had gone too far, I would have been like, hey girl, I'm going to have to respond tomorrow and we'll chat then. Or you just stop because you've already helped. So unless someone is traveling in the next 72 hours, I have To implement rules. And if I break my own rules, I'm in trouble for those rules. Nobody else. It wouldn't be her fault that I responded and things got off, off the rails. You know what I mean? So one way I remember to respond to somebody who I'm not going to respond to in the moment is I set a reminder on my Reminders app in my iPhone. I live and die by this app. I love this app so much. I just talk to Siri. I tell him to remind me tomorrow at 8:00 AM to respond to this text. And then at 8:00 AM, I get a notification. I go through all of my list after I've checked my email and anything big frog-wise, I get that done. Like guys, if you are not using your reminder app, you are missing out. It is the best free app on the phone that it comes with. Like the iPhone comes with the reminders app and I am obsessed with it. Another thing I might do is I may respond very quickly and just say, hey, I'll do this tomorrow. Or I'm out of office right now, but I'll be back tomorrow afternoon and get back to you. I really believe that that level of communication is really what sets me apart and why my clients trust me so much, because then I actually do the thing I say I'm going to do. And if I forget, I'm honest. Oh my gosh, I totally forgot to text you today, but here's my answer to that. Here's the best airline for that. Here's my next availability. Here's my Calendly link, whatever. It's okay to make mistakes as long as you own that and then respond as soon as you have a minute. And again, do not set yourself up for failure. Don't respond when you're on your way to a softball game, because once you're at the softball game, you need to be at the softball game. So a couple of years ago, I'm going to like, I'm shifting. I'm still in this boundary setting, but I'm shifting into a story. About a big thing I made a change in when I came back in 2018, and it got some travel agent owners in a fucking tizzy. I saw the screenshots; they were sent to me, and I was like, "Damn bad for the industry, giving horrible advice." That's what these texts said about me, and it was when I was early in my coaching career, and I really felt something like it tightened my chest like. They really think I'm bad for the TAs. I am not. I was not who I am now. And I did care that people were saying that I was giving bad advice. It bothered me, but it didn't change that I believed in my advice. So even though they considered it bad and I didn't like that they considered it bad, I still believed in my own advice. And so one of the pieces of advice that I give travel advisors And I'm a lot more confident now because I know it's a game changer, is I do not work at all over big holidays that I love. I do not work over birthdays of the most important people in my life, including myself. What does that mean? It means I do not book travel over Thanksgiving, over Christmas, Christmas Day, Christmas Eve. I do not book clients over those holidays. My birthday is July 27th. My daughter's birthday is July 29th, we are always on a trip. I do not book clients over those dates. And I believe in this deeply. And the reason I believe in it deeply is because it's a game changer for me to have control over that time that I am meant to be present with the people I love. I missed an entire Christmas when my kids were little. I literally missed my son opening his big gift from Santa. Because I was dealing with a snowstorm. Huge cancellation for a family of 11. I will never forget it because it destroyed my Christmas Day and it really hurt my son. And my husband was not fucking happy with me, and my mom wasn't happy with me because I missed lunch. So when I came back in 2018, we had made a tradition after moving to Florida that we go to the beach over Christmas every single year. We, we I love being on Anna Maria Island with our friends who go, and I did not want to have interruptions while we were there. And we are always there for 7 nights, Saturday to Saturday, around Christmas, around the holiday. So that meant I was not going to have clients traveling that particular week. This year, that week is the 20th through the 27th of December, 2025, but we're staying an additional week. This year, and I'm taking that week off too. And I do not have clients traveling at all during that time. I have in fact lost quote unquote lost business because I refuse to work over the break, over the holiday. Good clients. I passed them off to another advisor and yes, they came back for other things. They have come back for their spring breaks. They've come back for other days in the year that they're traveling, their anniversary trips, but I do not do their Christmas vacation. And I am A-okay with that. So I plan my year in an entire advance. Like I look ahead to make sure I have all those dates blocked off that I do not want to have clients traveling. And I don't take new appointments during that time. And I'm not online as much. And I don't post every day when I'm away unless I have it scheduled. And even then I try not to post anything that would require me to come back and respond all the time. For my travel clients. And the reason is because I really, really want to be completely present with my family. I want to be able to go get donuts at the drop of a hat or go shopping or rent a boat or whatever is going on right then at Christmas at the beach. I want to be able to participate. I do not want to be interrupted. I do not want a call from the airport. I do not want to deal with a snowstorm. I do not wanna deal with a technology problem, a hotel being overbooked, a transfer not showing up. I don't wanna fucking deal with any of that. So I no longer book those dates. I say no. I also don't work a lot over my own children's spring breaks. And luckily for me, most of my clients are in the Midwest and our spring breaks are different. But this year, in fact, this year coming up, March of 2026, I'm traveling so much. I'm traveling to Japan and then to Italy. That I have zero spring breakers for this year, and I am 100% okay with that. I am 1,000% okay with it, in fact. So I sit down with my calendar months and months in advance, usually early fall. So if you haven't had time, it's December 2025 when this is recording, and it is a perfect time to look ahead and decide what you're going to do for 2026. You still have time to make those decisions. Because one of the things that is so important to me is also not having clients travel while I'm traveling, which is why for March I have zero spring breaks because it overlaps my Japan trip and my Italy trip only have about 6 days in between. I don't want to be managing any bookings, any coming up bookings, nothing during that time. So I have zero spring breakers and I am fucking thrilled. So excited. And having those dates blocked off well in advance has allowed me to control my calendar elsewhere. I have a lot more January bookings this year. I have a lot more February. I have picked up some late April, early May, because I'm not traveling that much. I'm just back-to-back trips there in the early spring is like, it happens, you know, travel agent life. You get to decide what dates you're going to block, but you have to have calendar control and you have to look ahead. You have to put all your travelers on your calendar if you are already booking 2026. Excuse me, because honestly, guys, if you don't have this, how can you make appropriate plans? How do you know when you're available and when you are not available? I don't like to have a lot of overlap. I don't want those interruptions. And if you get frustrated with people who contact you at all hours of the day, it's probably because you have no office hours. You have no dates. You know you're out of office. You have no boundaries around your time. When I realized I could. Design my next year of business in advance, it changed everything for me. When I realized I could look ahead and just block some dates that I thought I might want to go somewhere and not have travelers, or okay, even if I'm not traveling that much, I just want to have a week off to be with my family, to clean my house, to renovate something, to make sure my car gets its oil changed. Like, we know how we are. If we don't make intentional decisions About what's good for us, they, things don't happen. How many of us skip an oil change because we just are not paying attention and we have not put it on the calendar? It's the same thing here. If you are not intentional with your time off, your time away from the office, whether that's an actual trip or not, you will never take it. I like to not travel with my laptop. And so I have to plan a year in advance. Like I already know when I want to travel next year, even if it's not booked. I want to have those dates blocked off because I want to make sure I do have those times away from my clients where I can leave my laptop at home. In fact, I left my laptop at home for Thanksgiving break, 9 whole days. Today was my first day back in front of my computer. And it was so refreshing to just sit down with a fresh mind. It's not to say I didn't check my email on my phone and star a few things that I know I needed to deal with this morning. But otherwise, I did not work. I did no quoting, no consults, no nothing, no Black Friday sales, nothing, because I do not work over Thanksgiving break. My kids get a whole week off and I take a whole week off. This also means there are no crazy-ass emergencies overlapping with your time out of the office, with your time that you want to spend the way you want to spend it, with the people you want to spend it with. This means I do not live In a constant state of panic anymore. I am not in constant reaction mode. I am treating myself the way I want to be treated. I am my own best client when I'm away from the office because I don't bother myself. I know it sounds crazy. I don't want to be a crisis manager when I am celebrating Thanksgiving with my extended family, and that's the only time I'm going to see them. In fact, this past Thanksgiving, I put my phone away at noon and I did not pick it up again until 10:30 PM that night, and it was It was fucking awesome. And guys, this has not hurt my business. This has not hurt my business. I am still making 6 figures a year. I am still selling a significant amount of travel to quality clients spending well above my minimum spend, who respect me, who care about my time, just like I care about my time because they are well-trained. They know what to expect from me because boundaries do not confuse aligned clients. They do filter out really shitty clients. People that you used to say yes to that you were just like, I can't deal with these people anymore. Your boundaries will filter them out. You don't even need to fire them. They will fire themselves because clients abso-fucking-lutely do not need unlimited access to you. They need clear expectations set early. And if you make a business model change, especially with past clients that you do enjoy, but they call you all the time and they ask so many fucking questions and you're just like, oh my God, stop. You have to reset the boundary. You have to reset the, you know, reset those expectations. You have to hop on a conference call. You have to be straightforward. I'm making changes to my model. Here are my new office hours. This is how I'm running my business for 2026. The right aligned client will stay. The right prospects will be referred. The wrong prospects, the wrong leads, the wrong brain pickers, they will weed themselves out. Because guys, clear is kind. Having structure and rules in your own business implemented by you is amazing. And it's okay. How often have you showed up somewhere and there's a closed sign on the door? You're not pounding down the fucking door. You're not calling incessantly expecting them to answer. No, you're closed. They're closed. It's okay to close. Other ways that I have shifted into that 20-hour workweek is by appointment only for consultations. I do Zoom consults only. If you don't want to Zoom, we're not getting on the phone unless my Zoom's not working, in which case I want to FaceTime if it's possible, because I want to see your face. Those are rules I make. I am and have become a master qualifier during those consultations. They're 30 minutes. I created scripts and templates to stay on track and to avoid working too much during those calls. And then even after, I have step-by-step-by-step workflows in place with Email templates, text templates, cuz I do text. That is something I do in my business and I love it. And this is what I teach in Propose to Close, you guys, like step-by-step workflow for sales process and service process. So you are not working 24/7. So I am not working 24/7. When you start implementing office hours and appointment-only model and you enforce it, everything else will fall into place. You will start to recognize what is really a client emergency because perceived urgency is not always the same. As an actual emergency. It really has helped me lock up, shut the door, and close down for the day. And it gets easier the more you do it. It's just like anything else in our business. Like the first few times it feels uncomfortable. It feels hard. It feels like you might lose something, but once you start doing it and implementing it every single day in your business, you will feel more confident. It will flow off your tongue easier. You'll know exactly how to respond to the DM. You'll learn that pre-K pause that I love to steal from Mr. Williams on Instagram. If you don't follow him, go follow him. He's amazing. And enforcing boundaries will not burn your business down. You do not have to throw in the towel. You do not have to be all or nothing like I was in 2015. You get to design your business if you are listening and trusting of a mentor who literally walks this walk every day. And that is me. And you don't let all that other noise confuse your business decision-making. This is your business. So you have to expect discomfort. You have to expect people who don't believe in it to say that's not going to work. And all you have to do is hold the line because you have to be confident in the decisions you're making, even when you're not 100% sure it's going to work, because you won't know until you actually try. I can promise you boundaries have not made me a worse Travel advisor. They have made being a travel advisor more sustainable and more enjoyable. I freaking love working with my clients. I appreciate how patient they are. I have so much more respect for them and their time, and I know that they have more respect for me and my time because they wait. They wait. It's amazing. And you can 150% have this too. I do not want you to get burned out. I do not want you to feel exhausted for no other reason than you just have put so much in this every day and you have zero to show for it. Because invitations to FAMs, reward ceremonies, um, you know, getting that pat on the back by your owner— none of that fucking matters if you don't have good relationships outside of your business and if you have zero control over your time. All that becomes irrelevant. I do not attend conferences. Like I don't attend small children's birthday parties, I also do not feel the need to show up at conferences and places that I have to schmooze, that are super loud, that's just all this bullshit chatter. If I want to build a relationship with a BDM, or if I want to learn more about a product, I reach out to the sales manager, to the BDM that I'm interested in chatting with, and I set up an appointment. And I am building strong, incredible relationships with the vendors that care about me as an advisor and not just another number. There are so many ways you can run this business, guys. You do not have to do it the outdated 1980s hustle way, especially if you're a mom, especially if you're a caretaker, especially if you're a teacher or have another job that keeps you so fucking busy. You can have success Financial freedom, does it take longer sometimes? Absolutely. It absolutely will take longer, but it doesn't mean it does not and cannot exist for you. But it starts with you and it fucking ends with you. The only person who can make change in their business, boundaries in their business, implement those changes, those boundaries, is you. No one else. And until you really embrace that and get serious and intentional about it, Nothing will ever change for you. You can sell $2 million a year in 20 hours a week. I know you can. I know you can. I know there are veterans listening to this like, this would not work for me because I have so many clients. I'm so— stop it. It can work for you. You can make changes that equal more money spending less time. Stop perpetuating the lie that our industry has fed us for decades because it complete bullshit. Guys, happy Friday. I hope that this was helpful. I hope that you feel encouraged. You know, I care about you and your business and getting rid of all that burnout. Our industry can be done so many different ways. And the more you filter in somebody that inspires you, cares about your business, and really genuinely wants you to be happy and enjoy this business and have fun being a travel advisor, The more success you actually have. Redefine what success means to you. Take back your time, make the rules up as you go, and then implement those changes and those rules into your business. You do not have to start on January 1st. You can start any damn day of the week, any damn day of the month, any part of the year. I'm so happy you're here. I'm so happy you listened. I hope that you will message me on Facebook and tell me if you are enjoying the solos. Because I am finally settling in. The first couple gave me a little anxiety, but this third one, I'm feeling really excited about it. And I hope you have learned a lot today. Please DM me and let me know if you need anything at all and how you felt about today's podcast. Have a great day and don't forget to block your calendar. All right, y'all. That is the end of another episode of the No BS Travel Advisor Podcast. Thank you so much for listening. 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!