Why (and How) Travel Agents Should Choose a Profitable Niche

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'm your host, Marcie Muensterman. I am your favorite recovering people pleaser, burnout survivor, and now Italy-obsessed travel advisor, which is what we're going to be talking about Right now, if you're new here, this is where I talk about the real side of building a profitable travel business. We talk money, we talk mindset, we talk boundaries, and we really talk about the things that you are not taught. I am anti-hustle. I am all about maximizing time so that you make real money over time. I am not about the overnight success here. And one of the things that really makes my left eye twitch, y'all, is I They sell everything. On Facebook groups, we see it every day. I'm looking for a travel advisor, just that post in your neighborhood group, and somebody will say, I can help you, and you have no fucking idea what they even need. I get tagged in posts all the time when people are looking for someone local to work with. But instead of jumping in saying, I can help, Of course I could help, but I need more information because I have a niche. I know what I want to be selling and who I want to be selling it to. And if you are not the right person for my business, I'm not going to accept the option to work with you because that's the thing, guys, we have the option. And if you want to travel somewhere and I don't want to sell that, or I don't know anything about it and I don't want to take the fucking time to learn about it, I'm not going to. And when I shifted into this, it was scary, but I am so confident now in what I do that when I am tagged in those Facebook groups, I will respond, thank you so much for tagging me. I am a specialist in luxury 5-star Italian vacations for couples and families with older children. And this is a way for you to get to know me better if you think this is a good fit. And then I tag my travel group. I do not jump right on and DM that person or say anything about offering the option to work with me without telling them who I am as a travel advisor. And in my opinion, when travel advisors say, sell everything, I can do anything, it is a true cry for help because if you are new, you don't know nearly enough to say that you can do everything. And especially if you do not do this job 40+ hours a week. And you're doing this business on the side in any way, the amount of time you are wasting, quote unquote, selling everything is astronomical. And our time is our most valuable resource. So if you are in this business and you're listening and you're like, no, I can sell everything, that's not necessarily untrue. It's just silly because the time you will spend researching, figuring everything out is going to not equal an appropriate amount of money if you can even close the deal, right? If you can close with confidence, if you have a sales process that works, even then the amount of time you're going to spend figuring it out because you refuse to niche is going to really cause long-term burnout. And that's what we're really getting into today. Why should we be niching? Deciding what to sell, getting specific. And it doesn't mean you're going to set your whole business on fire. I'll tell you a few things. If you're listening and you're like, I want to niche, I just don't know how, we're going to talk about that today. But also, how do you know when you're actually ready to niche? You know, you're ready. Let's be real. When you get a stomachache or you like that, that feeling in your gut like that, like, I don't want to do this feeling. When a random request. Hits your inbox, you open up that laptop to go respond. Oh my gosh, you're like sipping your latte and you're like, my gosh, I don't know anything about safaris. And I'm just using this as an example because this happened to me a couple of years ago. And I was like, do I want to learn about safaris? Like, I didn't used to ask myself that question, but now I do. And the thing was, is like, we know safaris are expensive. We know they're technically a luxury travel option. I would love to learn how to do this, but I didn't know where to start. I only work 20 hours a week max. I only take a couple of clients a week. Is this the right booking for me? My stomach just dropped and I was like, you know what? My stomach is usually right. I need to trust my gut. So I implemented the help and release. This is a strategy that I use instead of bless and release. I help them in some way, point them in the right direction, and then I release them. When you are in the moment with a prospect, someone someone who has sent you a DM and you know immediately, like you can feel it, that this is not a reservation you want to take on. If your soul is leaving your body because somebody asked you about Disney, then stop. When you feel that dread instead of excitement for anything outside of what you want your sweet spot to be, that is your niche tapping you on the shoulder saying, hey babe, It's time to focus. It's time to get real about your passion. You do not need to ask permission to niche, to make changes in your business, but it does require awareness. You have to be in that moment, right? This is a CEO era. We are stepping into it. Doesn't matter if you have been a travel advisor for 1 month or 10 years, every time You get clarity in your business. It's a moment to celebrate. It is a movement forward. I want you to feel good in your business, confident, and that does not mean you have to absorb every request every time someone reaches out to you. And here's another thing I've realized over the last three years of coaching and helping you: most of you have a completely warped idea of what. Niching is for travel. You hear niche and your brain goes, if I niche, I'll lose money. If I niche, I'll have to say no to quote unquote everyone. If I niche, I'll get bored. If I niche, I'll only be selling this one thing forever. If I niche, my aunt who offers me tons of cruise referrals will never do that again and she'll be mad. We have got to clean up the mindset. Mindset is about 85 to 95%. Of the reason you guys don't make change in your business. Pure, unadulterated fear. It's like a horror movie has entered your brain and all the worst case scenarios come to life with no context, with no evidence. You are trusting people who have been doing this wrong and been trained wrong as well. You're in Facebook groups getting bad fucking advice from people who've never actually walked in these shoes. Niching is not picking one supplier, tattooing it on your forehead, and only saying yes to that. Selling only one type of trip until the day you die. Saying no to every single client who doesn't fit this perfect avatar. It is not throwing away your past clients and burning down your email list. Niching is getting clear on what you want to be known for. Then intentionally building your marketing offers and expertise around that. That is your position. That is your unique quality. It comes from you. It is this decision, right? When someone thinks of this kind of trip to this destination or this kind of traveler, my name is the one that pops into their head. Okay. You can niche in different ways and some are going to be more effective than others, but no matter what, niching takes time. When you're making a pivot, it's just like anything else in your business. There has to be a plan. Here's what I'm going to tell you though. There are a lot of you out there who think you have niched. You will say things like, I do groups. Okay. Groups of what? Who goes on these groups? Where are they going? Or what about, I'm a European specialist. This is literally one of my least favorite things. Okay. Like all 44 countries, you are an expert. You've invested 10,000 hours of learning into every country that is in Europe, all 44. Like, who are you selling Europe to? Let's get real, guys. You can know general things about some European countries, but The more specific you are willing to be, the more you will be known. Or what about this one? I love this one. And this is something I did for years. I do luxury travel. What the hell does luxury even mean in travel? For who? To where? For what purpose? Luxury means so many different things to so many different people. So we've got to dive into it. Before we get into how to niche, because I am going to talk a little bit more about that, I want to talk to you guys about cookies. I know you're probably like sitting there in your car, drinking your coffee, taking your kid to school. Like, what the hell are you talking about, Marcie? Seriously, cookies? And yes, we're going to talk about cookies. You will be craving this cookie by the time I'm done telling you about it. Because when I heard about it from Jennifer Jurel a couple of weeks ago, it inspired me. And I thought, oh my God, they need to hear about these cookies. There is a cookie shop in Amsterdam that I cannot pronounce. I will put the link in the show notes. They sell one cookie. One cookie. That's it. A cookie shop that sells one cookie, not 12 cookies, not seasonal gingerbread, not custom flavors. One perfect cookie. It is a dark chocolate cookie with a gooey white Chocolate center. It has crispy edges and then it's soft in the middle. They make them fresh all day. They come out warm in your hands when you buy one. Y'all, people line the fuck up for this cookie. They wait in the cold. They wait in the rain. They do not care how long they have to wait for this one cookie. They love this cookie. This cookie shop trusted their instincts to do this one cookie every single day instead of being like every other bakery. People trust that they're gonna love this cookie as much as it is worth standing in this line. And based on everyone telling them, this is where you go get this cookie, you have to stand in this long-ass line, it is so worth it. People trust that it's worth it before they get in the line. This is what niching is. This is the very definition of building likability and trust to do the one thing you do very well so that you become referable. So people remember you, remember what you're known for. You are the thing, right? They're coming to you for this thing. Selling one signature thing. in your marketing does not automatically mean that you will only ever sell one thing behind the scenes though. So we are not the cookie shop, but I just wanted to tell you that story so you fully understand that it's possible if you want to sell just one thing the rest of your career. It's okay to sell just one destination, one brand of hotel. If you only want to sell Walt Disney World and not do Disney Cruises, that's okay. But it's also okay so that you're not totally freaking out right now to sell whatever other things you want to do behind the scenes. You can make those decisions as they come through the door. It's different than the cookie shop because this bakery is only selling this cookie and that's the decision they have made. And that's what they put out there. And there are some bakeries we know that are well known for specific items, but they obviously have a variety of other choices. The point is your niche has to come down to making sure people know what you are very, very, very good at. So you have to be willing to market your niche and not every other thing you might possibly sometimes do. I mean, this cookie shop might also sell coffee and tea, but that's like not what they're known for. That cookie is their star. And you absolutely can have a star of the show. How you do this is really what your clients are getting. But if you decided today, right now, while you're listening, to make your life easier, get the line out the door going niche, get passionate about something in this industry that gets your blood flowing, that when you put your feet on the ground in the morning, you are excited to come into your office. You cannot wait to work on that next training, that next vacation plan for your most aligned client. Does niching take time, especially if you've been doing something a very long time, like you're doing something now, but you want to change? Of course it takes time to pivot. You have to be patient in every major change you make in your business. And then you have to commit to doing it. Even when it's quiet, even when it's hard, even when you're retraining, when you're retraining the brains of the people that you have networked with for years, you have to commit to the change. You have to know you are ready because scarcity mindset is a hell of a drug, y'all. It is a hell of a drug. Scarcity mindset is going to try to take over. There's always going to be those negative imposter syndrome thoughts. popping into your head and it convinces you that saying no to things you no longer wish to do even one time is going to send your business and universe into some downward horrid spiral. But let me tell you something from experience. The moment I stopped taking every single destination wedding was the moment that I noticed I was excited to do travel again. Like when I Decided to stop doing honeymoons. I realized I was just ready to work again. And guys, it did take some time. It did, because when you are shifting your marketing, it's going to confuse people at first. It really is. And that's all right. That's why you're going to keep shifting that marketing. You're going to really push forward because otherwise they won't get it. They won't understand it. And the only way they're going to start to understand it is if you explain it to them. Especially if you've been a travel advisor for a long time. Now, if you're new, what? Wow. I'm so fucking jealous because you get to decide right now what to do. And one of my favorite things is when I first became a travel advisor, I was so excited about destination weddings and honeymoons. I knew I really, really only wanted to sell Sandals and Beaches brand. And that's what I did. And I was Damn good at it. Hell, I am a Platinum Sandals and Beaches travel advisor. You cannot take that away from me. It's a lifelong accreditation that I have earned. And I was so excited every day to get out of bed and talk to my next honeymoon couple, go to the bridal shows and stand there for 8 to 10 hours and talk to all of those couples. And I was so excited about that for so many years. But when I came back to travel in 2018 and I knew what I was good at, I just assumed that's what I had to do. And that's really what I did. I mean, I got back into travel in 2018 after my burnout and immediately came back to do a destination wedding. It was actually what brought me here. Somebody called me and asked me to do their wedding. And she knew I wasn't a travel advisor anymore. And I thank her because it gave me the confidence to come back. And I'm going to talk a little bit more about my transition out of doing destination weddings soon, but I want you to know just because you're good at something doesn't mean you have to keep doing it. Or just because you love going somewhere on a trip doesn't necessarily mean you have to sell that kind of trip. Another example is I love to go to Disney. I used to be a member. I live in Florida. I live an hour and a half away from Disney. So I joined when we first moved here in 2014, but I learned a couple of years ago that I really do not enjoy selling and marketing Disney for many reasons. And I've stopped. So I don't do that anymore. Again, just because you enjoy it, just because you know how to do it, because I do know how to do it, doesn't mean you have to do that. And there was a lot of fear in saying no. And I get that. And we're going to, we're literally going to dive into all of this today. The one thing I can tell you though, is when I started to make these decisions to shift my niche, to pivot my business. To say no, my income didn't tank out like I feared. My time was so freed up to dedicate myself to my niche that my creativity, my excitement came back. My energy returned. My aligned client improved. My business matured. I matured, you guys. I matured. Whenever you hear that fear, When your voice is shaking, that doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. That means that you're probably on the right track. If you're afraid of it, if you're like getting nervous even listening to this because you know I'm right, that is a good feeling to have. It cannot control you though. The fear cannot control your next decision. You have to step into that CEO era, babe. You are a business owner, even if you work. With a travel agency, even if you don't consider yourselves an owner, you are. Listen, I planned 239 destination weddings. 239. I cannot do any more weddings. It took me 3 years to leave it behind. I really started deciding in 2021 I was done with weddings. I really needed to walk away because my— passion for doing them had disintegrated. I was so afraid because I was so quote unquote successful at doing weddings that that would immediately mean I'm no longer successful. I thought I would lose out on 6 figures and I thought I would disappoint people, right? Because I had all these wonderful couples who trusted me over the years and I was concerned that they would be like, You know, referring me and be disappointed when I said no. The real truth is, guys, it doesn't matter what other people think, even if they are disappointed, because I was tired of it. I was drained. I was becoming resentful and eye-rolling whenever somebody talked to me about weddings. I was operating my business from a muscle memory instead of passion. I have lost my passion for working with couples who want to get married elsewhere. I think it is an incredible market. And if you are passionate about it, thank goodness, because I need somebody to take my place in that spot. But even I was scared to admit that something I was amazing at, because I am damn good at booking and managing destination weddings and their, the couples and their families. I am so good at it. It has taught me so many amazing things. I've met so many incredible people. But it was no longer aligning with what I wanted to do every day when I woke up. So from 2021 to 2024, I slowly loosened my grip. I booked fewer weddings each year and I really started to lean in on Italy vacations. I really, really wanted to spend more time learning about traveling to and becoming an expert in Italy, not Europe. Italy. I wanted to implement a very high minimum spend because luxury to me is a 4 to 5 star hotel experience with all private tours, private transfers, upgraded flight tickets. Like that is the experience. That is the memory I want my clients to come home with when they go to Italy. So in 2019 is when I decided to lean into Italy. I was still doing Caribbean. I was still doing honeymoons. I was still doing destination weddings. I was still doing all those things. But I really wanted to learn more about Italy. And in 2020, when COVID hit, I used that whole year to learn about Italy. Just learn about it. I knew I couldn't go. We all know Italy was on the real lockdown. And I just had this gut feeling that my world was not going to collapse. It was shifting. It didn't remove all the fear. Like I said, I didn't really know I was going to give up destination weddings until closer to 2024. I mean, like I wanted to, I talked about it over the years, but I never made the full decision until I felt really comfortable in this new niche. I do sometimes wish I would have made the decision sooner, but I also know that our decisions happen over time and implementing those decisions can take years. It's like, I don't know, it's kind of like a camera lens zooming in on what I was meant to capture, right, in my business. I just knew I really wanted to travel to Italy all the time, understand it. And I don't know, like for me, it was a maturing moment in my business. Over those years of continuing to do just a few destination weddings, it wasn't so bad, right? Like I would be like, oh my gosh, I love this couple. I love their friends. I love their family. But I still was like, I don't want to keep doing this. Even though I was happy and only doing, you know, by 2024, I think I only did 3 weddings. I even worked with a couple who did a vow renewal that year. And I was like, yeah, it's easy. It's fun. I know all these people, but I still like wasn't excited every day. I would be annoyed if I saw an email come in that I'd answered that question 30 times before. And I realized my annoyance was coming from somewhere else. It was coming from a place of just lost passion. And I had to really be super self-aware that I needed to stop doing this, not just for me. But for the client. A client deserves a passionate, excited, talented travel advisor doing their wedding, especially doing their wedding. Was I worried I was going to lose people or income? Yes. But I needed to get back my joy or I was going to stop doing travel again. That's the thing, guys. You have to be able to recognize your own bullshit. You have to be able to look at your business with a clear, unbiased eye. And talk to yourself about what it means to make these changes, to set these boundaries, to say no to something you've been doing well for a long time and choosing something else that brings you back to yourself. You deserve that. So that is part of the niching process. It is about choosing yourself every day in your business and doing it unapologetically. We do not have to apologize. When we make changes. Have you ever gone to your favorite restaurant and went to order your favorite meal and it's gone? This happens to me, you guys. This happens to me all the time. I feel like I always pick that one thing on the menu that no one else likes. And I go to that place, to that restaurant, and then they're no longer selling it. And I asked the waitress, what happened to this chicken that I loved? It had the Parmesan crust and it had, oh my gosh, and it came with this beautiful rice and then they put this sauce on it. And she's like, we took that off the menu a couple of months ago. Nobody else ever ordered it. I'm like, this is such bullshit. Can you make it? And she's like, we probably could make it, but they don't. And she doesn't apologize for it. She doesn't take the blame that somebody in upper management, somebody who owns the restaurant, decided to stop selling this because it wasn't making money for them or it was no longer A good way for their cooks to spend their time learning if no one else ordered it, or they just decided to make the change. They don't say, I'm so sorry. I mean, some waitresses will because they're people-pleasing idiots, but a manager can come over and just say, this is what we're doing now. Here's an alternative, or you can go somewhere else, right? You can go somewhere else to get that. So it's not about, oh, I'm so sorry. I don't really do destination weddings anymore because, you know, I just, it's just not something I do. But I like, it's like all that stuttering. It's figuring out how to say to them in your own words and your own authentic vocabulary. Guys, so many of you want me to copy and paste my fucking shit. And I'm like, no. In some way you're going to say, my business model has shifted. And I am so incredibly excited to focus on fully customized Italian vacations moving forward. I am no longer taking destination weddings, but I do know 2 advisors who might be a good fit for you, and I'm happy to refer you. It is the help and release method. It is saying, I don't do that anymore, but I can absolutely help you. And I can give you a couple of options so that you can find the best fit for you. Because no matter what, you're no longer the best fit. I am no longer the best fit for destination wedding leads. And shifting a business model is so normal. It's such a great way to say I'm making change. When you add fees, I'm shifting my business model. When you shift niche, I'm shifting my business model. When you change your operational hours and go to, you know, a different time of day you're working or different days of the week, I'm shifting my business model. CEO baddie energy. And that is the energy that you need to bring when you confidently explain what's going on in your business. And yes, if you're making a major change, you need to tell people. You might want to send an email. You might want to post in your Facebook group. You might want to update your website. When I decided to stop doing destination weddings, I had to reach out to Miranda and be like, girl, we got to take all the destination wedding shit off my website today. Like, I do not want any more referrals. I do not want anyone seeing this website the way it is right now. But we don't need to stutter through it, y'all. It's okay to make these changes. And it's okay to be excited about those changes and clear, because you guys know I say this every time we talk, clear is kind. No apologies. You're not hurting someone. You're not painfully being aggressive. You're not saying something mean. So why are you apologizing for this change? Stop apologizing for a lot of shit, but especially when you make a business decision that is for you. To make your business stronger, to make sure that you are focused on the things that matter to you. There is no overexplaining here, emotional apology. We do not do that here. So some of you're like, how did you decide you wanted to sell Italy? And I said, you know, I was just always interested. In fact, there was a woman at my first travel agency that I worked with who was so obsessed with Italy, so passionate. And I kind of used to roll my eyes. Like, what is so special about Italy? And she did these group trips and she would take people. And I remember they were like less than $3,000 a person, but I was scared to go on any of them. Like I thought about going a couple of times. It would not surprise me if she and her husband moved to Italy by now. I mean, that was a decade and a half ago, but there was something about her energy that it bled all over me. I was like, oh my God, she loves this. This is amazing. I like, I wish I loved something this much. Like. A specific destination. I always had a favorite Caribbean island. It's Jamaica. That's where I got married. And I always had a favorite resort. I always had, you know, things I enjoyed, but I was not obsessed with anything like she was obsessed with Italy. So in 2019, I was a little bored, right? My ADHD was off the chain and I wanted to learn about something new, but I didn't wanna learn everything about Europe. So I started focusing on Italy. I took the Italian Tourist Board training that's free. I'll put the link in the show notes, but it was so good. And it just gave me some insight that I needed. And then I started taking webinars through luxury vendors, Ultimate Jet Vacations. I think I took Classics Italian webinar. I just started showing up for trainings and I just became more and more in love with this country. And what it represented. And I realized, I look back on my life and I've always loved history. I've always loved historical fiction. I love learning about where we all came from, but I didn't realize how much I loved it until I really started learning as an adult about that. And it really brought me back to some of my favorite things as a kid. I mean, I was an English major, so I read a lot and I just floated through these trainings and then I finally got to go after COVID. And the moment I stepped foot in Italy, I knew I was where I was supposed to be. I had this just overwhelming sense of gratitude. I stepped foot into the Rome airport and I realized this is not as scary as I thought it was going to be traveling to Europe. I survived that long flight. Luckily, I had a friend with me. I cleared immigration smoothly. I was overwhelmed how big the Roman airport is, the Rome airport is. It was so big, you guys. Got finally to get my luggage, which felt like a mile away. And then I got outside and it was like, I'm in the middle of nowhere, but like there was just this energy I had never felt before. And over the course of those next 10 days, I fell in love with the country. I fell in love with the people, the food. And in fact, I had 2 experiences of déjà vu while I was there. One of them, I was like 3 days in and we were at a restaurant for lunch and I couldn't find the bathroom. And they say toilets, you know, so I asked where the toilet was and they pointed me down to this spiral staircase that went down into their basement. And I was nervous about it because it was so small, but about halfway down that staircase, I got this insane déjà vu. Like I have been here before and I paused and realized maybe I have been here before. And I know that sounds weird, but if you are super self-aware and willing to feel when you travel, it creates these memories. And you guys, it has been a core memory ever since. And I took tons of pictures of myself on that trip. I posted them all as I was traveling because marketing it was so important to me. I wanted everyone to know, yes, I've been selling Italy, but I want to make sure you guys know I sell Italy now, and I am so passionate. I'm going to travel here every 6 months. I made a decision that trip to come back 6 months later and bring Eric. So did I decide on the niche before I went? Yes. But what really locked it in for me was traveling there and realizing there is a spark when I land in Italy. I feel something different. I'm so excited to share it with somebody else. I want people to come and see the Colosseum and walk on those stones that are thousands of years old. I want you to come to this place and feel something like I have felt. And I just knew this is what I should be doing. So once that spark is there, everything I had learned kind of came together. And even when I got home, one of my closest friends said when she looked at the pictures of me in Italy, I looked like I belonged there. And I thought, well, yeah, because I do. The fire inside of me is relit. And I'll be honest, it doesn't make logical sense that I would feel at home a place I'd never been, but I do. I did. And I still continue. And I have done what I said, which is travel to Italy at least twice a year since that first trip. And I spend 5 to 8 nights in each place I go. I am not a city hopper. I don't think that's the way you should do it. So that is also how I train my clients. That is who I'm attracting, people who want to take Italy slowly. It's not just I sell Italy. I niche from a place of passion and desire in showing you and creating a memory for you that allows you to immerse and light yourself up when you're traveling. So whatever you think you can talk about for 3 hours nonstop without taking a breath, that's probably your niche. That's probably what you love so much. That's probably something you want to sell more of. Let's be honest. If planning Hawaii and itineraries feels like recess to you, fun, exciting, probably what you should focus on. If national park routing makes you feel like a genius and you can visualize Yellowstone National, family of 4, what are they going to do? What are they going to see? And you're just, I want you to see this. Oh my gosh. You're going to be changed from this trip. Y'all, that is your niche. Like doo doo doo right there on the shoulder. Hey, hey, you love this. Do this because passion creates this visibility and that becomes easy, right? When something is easy and you are so excited, it's easy to sell it. You're not just selling the trip; you're selling the memory, the experience that you know in your soul they can have, that you can give to them, and only you can give that to them. And then, you guys, it makes content creation easier. That marketing, it becomes. Effortless. And when people see you going to that same place over and over and over and over and over, and they're like, oh my gosh, now she's in this part of Italy and now she's in that part. And it seems like she stays in these places a long time. Then those same people that went last year will consider going again next year. You're not necessarily going to quote unquote lose everyone. You're not necessarily gonna have to rebuild new clientele every year. And the best part is if these people have this most amazing, incredible experience in Italy, What are they gonna do when they get home? They are going to talk about it and tell everyone. And when somebody says, oh, I went to Italy and I saw 7 different cities in 10 days, somebody's gonna go, oh my gosh. Y'all, I stayed in Tuscany for 8 nights. My travel agent booked me the most incredible villa and we had such a relaxing, beautiful time. It was so nice to just immerse and, and really explore those medieval cities. On day trips and then rest at the hotel and go to a Michelin-star restaurant. And they're gonna go, oh my gosh, I didn't have time to go to a Michelin-star restaurant for a 3-hour meal because I was getting on a bus, putting my suitcase under, and going to the next 3-star hotel. And they're gonna say, oh my gosh, no, we had the most amazing service. We parked our bags in one place. It's like, it's different, right? There's nothing wrong with that tour. There's nothing wrong with doing it that way, but that is not how I personally sell Italy. So that means I am not niched in bus tours. I am niched in customized FIT luxury Italian vacations. That's how specific it is. I'm not going to send you to 7 cities in 10 days. That's not going to happen with me. So not only am I saying no to doing everything in Europe, I'm also saying no to a very specific type of travel. In Europe. And I only sell a specific kind of Italian vacation. That is niching. All right. That is what niching is. Now, it doesn't mean you can't do all those other things. Again, if you are working with somebody and the bus tour is the best option for them, I get it. You have to decide in that moment for yourself if you want to work together anymore. If the custom thing doesn't work for them or it's too expensive or it becomes whatever it becomes for them, are you going to get on or off Your own train. And that's something I talk about in Propose to Close. We have to set expectations and make sure they know what we will and won't do before we dive into proposal moment. And you guys are either going to be so excited about what I'm talking about today or so terrified, but either way, you've got to decide for yourself what's right for yourself. I say this all the time. Yes, this is what I believe. This is what I coach. This is what I'm gonna tell you. And if you are not resonating and it doesn't align with you either right now or ever, then I'm not the right coach to be listening to. And that's okay because this is something I am passionate about in coaching. I'm very specific in how I teach. I'm very in your face. And I think you're doing it wrong if you're trying to generalize. If you say yes to everything, I think you are doing yourself and your potential clients a horrible disservice. Because there is no way you can be an expert at everything in travel. There is not a doctor on the fucking planet who can say they can treat you for everything. That's not a thing. My sister is a post-op cardiac ICU nurse. That's what she did for 15 years. She was not a cancer nurse. She was not an emergency room nurse. She tried that. It sucked. She hated it. She was a post-op cardiac nurse. I'm not saying she couldn't go work In a doctor's office. I'm not saying she couldn't figure out ER nursing. She could. She just didn't want to. So I need you to be thinking about that. If you're a teacher, what do you teach? You teach 3rd graders in your school. Do they also then niche you down to like English, social studies, math? You might not be good at teaching math, so you teach English. It's okay to have a specialty. It's okay to not take the job just to take a job, right? It's the same for travel. Let's do some work together before we end today. I want you to, obviously if you're in your car, you can't do this. So, you know, come back to it, but grab a notebook and I want you to write down 3 columns on a sheet of paper. Don't type this up. Don't put it into ChatGPT right now. I want you to physically do this activity because when you write things down, when you literally sit down with it, your brain fires in a different way. And A, you remember it better. B, it literally imprints more on your system. I want you to write 3 columns just real quick. No perfection here. What do I love to sell is column number 1. Love selling. Column 2, what am I good at delivering? And column 3, what will people pay, pay me to do? All right. And then under each column, I want you to take some time and what trips Light you up, or if you're new and somebody reached out to you today, think about this immediately. This is not even if you're new, but especially if you're new because right now you're thinking I don't know what I like to sell. What would make me so fucking excited if somebody reached out to me today to do to sell them? If the next lead you get, the next comment you get, PM says, "Hey Marcy, I want help with this," and for me it would be. I know you do Italy. One of my friends, you know, told me that you're an Italian specialist. We want something super special for our anniversary. I would be like, yeah, let's fucking go. Like that would immediately stimulate my brain. What is that for you? What is that? Is there more than one? Okay. But like, how many are you going to do? Right? You've got to write them all down and then continue to narrow it down. And then what are you good at delivering? What are you objectively good at? Like, what do you know, even if you're new, that you are going to be good at when it comes to working with a client? And then if you aren't new and you've been doing this a little while, what do the clients say about you? When you get a referral or when you get a text from a client after they get home, what are they saying? What are you confident that you are going to be good at if you're new? And what are you confident about that you know you are fucking amazing at right now when it comes to handling Your clients. Like, what do you know? They're like, she is a baddie at this. And then what will people pay well for? I really want you to think about this because it's going to come down to a few things. Because when you're choosing your niche, you also have to be thinking about your money. And you need to remember that you're the CEO and being profitable is so important. Because if we're not making money, I don't care what people say. I don't care about money. I just do this for fun. Eventually you're going to look at your spend every year and the income and you're gonna be like, okay, this is not equaling for whatever reason. There are many reasons in here, but when you're choosing a niche, you do want to look at how much people will spend that you know to make them a memorable experience. This is how much they have to spend. What does that look like? How much is it? Where is, where are you going to add value? So that they will pay a fee so that you can make money, continue to educate yourself, pour back into your business to be even better at your niche. This is the niche intersection activity, these 3 columns. Then when you figure this out, and this activity could take you days, you could just lay it on your desk and just come back to it when you know those answers as you're talking to other advisors. As you're having conversations with your clients, because this is also where your marketing is going to come into play. So it's not just about finding an aligned client. It's about understanding what you want to do in your business and how to market that. And then deciding, this is what my aligned client will spend so that you know exactly where you want to land. And it doesn't mean tomorrow you're going to get that perfect aligned client. DMing you about your new niche. It just means that you have more clarity, that you have better understanding of what it is that you really want to do and where you are going in your business. It could take you 3 years to fully pivot. It did for me. And if I'm real, it took almost 6 to become known for Italy, but I am getting way less destination wedding leads and way more Italian leads 6 years later. And since I gave up. Doing destination weddings, I have only gotten one lead, one lead, and I passed her off with confidence. And I was so excited to pass her off. It made me so happy to align her with somebody else who's very passionate about it. I did not feel loss. I really felt comfortable because I know that every year I'm selling more and more Italy and I have replaced my destination income. With my one amazing group trip every year to Italy. So there are ways to do that, you guys, and it does take time, but you have to start somewhere. It's not starting over. You have this network. You can cultivate your network to work for you with your marketing. So you've got to get specific. It can't just be Europe. Europe is huge. What does that mean? So what are your favorite parts of Europe? What countries really light your fire? Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Portugal. You need to know who that traveler is. And it can be more than one kind of traveler. Okay. It can. You can also niche here if you want. You could go from families to families with teens or families with 3 or more children or busy parents who want to leave their children at home. It's not just a vacation. When people hire a travel advisor, they're not hiring somebody to send them on a vacation. They're celebrating milestones. They're building reconnection in their marriage. They're experiencing a once-a-year bucket list trip. They are creating memories that last the rest of their life, that give them a feeling. This is an emotional experience that you get to create, and it can be as specific as you want it to be. Well, as far as style goes, it's not just nice travel. It's not just luxury. It's immersive boutique, privately guided, food and wine heavy, right? Very descriptive, very specific. I've said this a lot. You guys could get drunk on how often I say specific. So from there, you've got this list. You've got to build out a statement that is easy to repeat and believe with confidence. I help who do what in where so they can have this result with a focus on style or values. Example, I help busy couples do immersive adults-only Italy trips so they can reconnect without their children in boutique 5-star hotels with private tours and spend around $20,000 is what my average couple spends. That is something people can remember. They will take something away from that sentence. It's not even just something they can repeat. It will like imprint. It's like, Okay. Did she say $20,000? It's like, there's pieces of it that they may have more questions too, which then leads to a real conversation. So think about this when you think about what you want to do, because you're going to want to come up with that elevator pitch, right? You're going to want to know what to say when people ask you what you do. Stop saying, oh, I can do anything, but I do Italy. I don't say that anymore. I used to, I used to be like, oh, well, I used to do destination weddings and like, no, I design wine and wellness girlfriend retreats in Italy for women over 40. So they can reconnect with their soul and themselves and meet new friends. I plan high-end milestone vacations to Italy for families with teens who don't love those cheesy tours. I focus on high-end experiences so they can celebrate graduation from college. It doesn't have to be perfect. You can change it up a little bit, but stay focused on what it is you do. I help overworked couples experience elevated boutique all-inclusive escapes in the Caribbean without those typical cheesy resort vibes. I design curated adults-only vacations in Jamaica and St. Lucia for couples who want luxury without all the stuffiness. I help girlfriends plan upscale all-inclusive retreats in the Caribbean with private experiences and spa-forward itineraries so they come home relaxed and ready to tackle life again. Maybe you are a destination wedding specialist. I plan chic boutique-style destination weddings in Mexico for couples who want a personalized experience with— without the resort factory feel. I help busy Couples create stressless destination weddings in Jamaica and Punta Cana with concierge-level planning from start to finish so they can be hands-off. It tells them who you serve, how you serve them, and where they're going to go. Are you a USA travel ex— you know, expert? I help families plan elevated USA national park vacations with private guides, boutique lodging, and detailed routing. So they know what to expect every step of the way and can actually enjoy that time with their family. I design luxury coastal road trips in California and Oregon for couples who want curated food, wine, and immersive scenery experiences to reconnect. These are examples you can use. You just have to swap in what you do, who you do it for, and the experience that you're going to offer them and the result they're going to have. And here's the deal, guys. You don't have to do any of this. My advice is just that. It's just advice. But coming from someone who has burnt out, who does get bored, if you continue to do the type of trip that you dread, you are going to get resentful. You are going to feel dead inside. You're going to feel frustrated, annoyed. You're going to make mistakes because when we don't like something, we sometimes fuck it up. So if you get that sense of dread when someone reaches out to you, That's information. That is fucking information. That is amazing information to use. But if you feel alive, like fire in the soul, talking about a destination, that is information. So if you notice that passion rising up, that is your niche calling out to you. And when you choose that lane and stop chasing clients that don't align and really market to the person, to the people that you want to sell to. Those, that attractor factor becomes so much louder. Like a lot of you don't understand attractor factor because you don't have a focus. So you can't attract anyone because you're not talking to anyone because you're not really understanding what it means to be passionate and excited. And you don't share it because you don't know how to, because you're too worried about what other people think or saying no and scarcity mindset. But I can promise you, if you become excited and share with passion, not only is that way likable, it means the right clients will find you. They will be attracted to what you're saying. They will know it in their gut. You're the right person to help them. When you have a niche, you don't have to hustle so hard. It might feel like it in the early days when it feels very quiet, when you're making those changes, but the clearer you get, the more you're willing to put it out there, the faster people will find you. And clarity is true luxury, man. Clarity is like It is the best. So if this episode is like poking around at your brain and you're like, oh my God, Marcie, get outta my head. Good. I'm so excited for you because I wanna call you out. I want you to have a little bit of anxiety. I want that fear to be like your heart beating fast because that means you're fucking excited. That means like it's time to go forward with this joy of doing something you love because travel is supposed to be fun. This industry, planning fucking vacations is supposed to be fun. I mean, guys. If you are not having fun, you are fucking it up. You are doing it wrong. And burnout is around the corner on that. I don't care how much money you're making. I don't care how good at something you are. You're going to burn out. You're going to start hating this job. And if you put your feet on the floor every day and you're excited to get up and market the shit out of it and plan the shit out of it, it is— that's, that's what you want. I mean, deciding what you sell and who you sell it to is the fastest path to having a business. That is all yours, that you're the CEO of. No one can take that away from you. Fear is loud, but like passion can be louder and more powerful. And the more you share about what you love, the more you will attract those people who want you, especially when they know what to expect, what they're getting. I mean, that's why you guys are all here, because I am so passionate about helping you find your way through this crazy-ass industry. With a new perspective. You're not abandoning anyone because you make change. You're leading them, showing them what else you do. That confidence without apology is what will make them respect you. So if you love this episode, oh my gosh, I love this episode. I'm obsessed with it. DM me. Let's chat about it. But even more, guys, I don't ask for this on the podcast very often, but I need those 5-star reviews. So if you love this episode, please Drop a five-star review. If you're listening every week and you're getting a little something out of this, if it feels like you're changing, if you're getting impact, will you just share it? Share it on your timelines. Share it in your stories. Tag me. Leave me a five-star review on on Apple or Spotify. I would so appreciate it because the thing is, guys, like these solo episodes, they are so fun. I love doing them, but I need to know you love listening. Please follow along. Please download. Yes, I feel like I'm begging. It's embarrassing right now, but I promise you it is for the betterment. of the future of this podcast. So love you guys. Hit me up. I hope you love this episode. Tell me how much you love it because a little pat on the back is my love language. Those words of affirmation keep me going every day. And I hope that you head into your next journey as a travel advisor niching the fuck down. Bye. 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 five-star review, and if you need anything, I'm here for you. Bye.