Many of you may have asked yourselves in January, “Why is she writing about stepping out of her office and taking a walk during the height of booking season?” Well, the answer is I run and work my travel business from home, and home has not been such a great place recently. January 20th marked the end of my marriage of nearly 25 years. In a matter of 10 minutes in a courtroom, my life as I had known it had changed.
I needed to shift my mindset to a good place before hitting the ground running in February with my first travel event of the year, The GIFTE (Global Institute for Travel Entrepreneurs) Book More Travel Workshop. I have been a part of GIFTE for 3 years now as a member of their TESA program (Travel Entrepreneur Success Academy). For this first event of the year, I had been invited to attend as a special VIP Ambassador. I was truly thankful for the opportunity to be able to share my time and travel experiences with others in the industry that attended the event. For me, getting involved in a coaching program was a no-brainer. In fact, I believe we need coaches not only in business, but other aspects of our lives as well. After all, as a fitness coach myself, I have been known to hire my own personal trainer to keep me accountable. I have taken advantage of GIFTE’s extras as well, and hired various additional coaching experts to work with in areas of marketing, SEO, self-development, media, and more! At the workshop, I was excited to finally meet my media coach, Silva Harapetian, in person.
The Book More Travel Workshop delivered as expected, and I felt recharged after my week in Charlotte, NC. I even decided to invest more in my business and entrepreneurial nutrition by finally accepting an invite to GIFTE’s Diamond Mastermind Program. The program is a 10 month private coaching program designed for entrepreneurs really looking to take their business to the next level. Now with goals to expand my IC count to 10 and double my revenue, there was no better time invest.
Along with divorce came the sad decision to sell my home. Not only will I be selling the home, but this will be a major move of the business to another state. About the same week as the divorce, our youngest daughter, Veronica, got some exciting news. Veronica signed on with Jago-Ciro Entertainment, an acting talent agency in NYC. Given the flexibility of being able to run my business from pretty much anywhere, I decided to give our daughter the opportunity to pursue her dreams and will be relocating us and Boomerang Escapes to the NYC vicinity.
I returned from the meeting, contracted with my 6th new independent contractor (located in Colorado), and had a very awakening call with another coach and friend Carmen Perez of Effortless Living. She works with GIFTE as an online strategist. During a Q & A call with her, I realized it was okay to step back from my business in order to move things forward. In January, I had done it to adjust my mindset, and in March I needed to do it in order to get the house on the market. It really helped for my coach to give me “permission” and a sense of direction. At the end of tumultuous first quarter, I can honestly tell you to embrace change. It is the one constant in life.
Lisa Rossmeissl is the owner of Boomerang Escapes, a home-based agency located in Memphis, Tennessee. She has been a professional travel consultant since 2008 and specializes in Australia and the South Pacific. Australia, Tahiti, Fiji, and Cook Islands are among the specialist certificates she holds. Her agency’s focus is on creating itineraries with their client’s wants, desires, and budgets in mind. She and her planners believe in getting to know the traveler to ensure they have a vacation to remember. With each planner specializing in a different market area, Boomerang Escapes can offer a wide ride of leisure vacation planning.
