I can remember it like yesterday. Picking up the phone in 2004 to make my first call to a travel agency as a District Sales Manager for a tour operator.  Boy was I green, after all  I wasn't exactly a seasoned traveller nor a seasoned business person for that matter. 

I mean if an agent asked me to point Budapest out on a map, the likelihood of me pointing too Boston was much greater.  So as I did in College and University it was Q card time. I studied a little geography a ton about our product and sprinkled in the customary sales books. 

 I was off to the races, I must have called every travel agency in South Western Ontario 4 times in the first 6 months.  What a beginning to a career, travelling the world staying in great digs, wearing a suit everyday, company credit card boy I was living.

I fell in love with the travel industry it was so fast moving, no day was ever the same. I could see why people say the travel industry is like the hotel California " You can check in but you can never check out " I loved it. 

Not only did I love the industry but I had gotten pretty good at it.  I bet on the travel agent I knew that if I helped them get what they wanted more passengers, more revenue and repeat clientele, I would in turn get what I wanted.

Flash forward to 2007. The email read I've added you as a friend on Facebook.  Now I would be lying if I said this email changed my entire career path but, it certainly played a part in it. 

With the advent of social media sparked a keen interest in me. I started to question the future of the very people I relied on to feed my family.  What is the future of the travel agent ? How are they going to use technology to evolve as a distribution channel ? Is social media really something agents will use to drive business ? How can I help travel agents use these tools to survive and thrive ?

These were pretty big questions to be asking, I mean who was I to try and solve these complex industry challenges, for heaven sakes I had been slinging Coors Lights at the airport bar only 3 years prior. 

With the above being said, and no matter what I did, I could not shake the fact I believed this was my true career purpose. It consumed me from 07 to 2010. Everyday, every conversation, every interaction it was my goal to figure out what I could do to help. 

So what did I do ? Well I did what any rational person would do. I left my secure job, sold my house, liquidated my RRSP's and went for it. 

So long story short, I bet the farm on the travel agent. Once again the agents did not disappoint, they once again supported me and once again I rely on them to feed my family. 

So to say thanks I have a gift for you all. THE TRAVEL VALET the culmination of 4 years of work, the product that will level the playing field between the big guys and the little guys.

For more info click here